Heated respiratory hose wiring

ABSTRACT

A method of forming a hose includes: extruding a web of plastics material from a first extruder; helically winding the extruded web about a mandrel or at least one rotating rod to form a wall of the hose; feeding an electrical wire into a second extruder; extruding a bead of plastics material around the electrical wire from the second extruder, wherein the first electrical wire is positioned at a first location within a cross-section of the bead that comprises a bonding surface; cooling the bead to cool the plastics material adjacent the first location to prevent migration of the first electrical wire from the first location; re-heating the first bonding surface to cause the plastics material of the bonding surface to become molten; and helically winding the bead onto the hose to put the bonding surface into contact with, and to cause bonding with, the wall of the hose.

REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This Utility Patent Applications is a continuation-in-part of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 16/506,989 filed Jul. 9, 2019 by Martin E.Forrester, and entitled HEATED RESPIRATORY HOSE WIRING; which is acontinuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/882,257filed Jan. 29, 2018 by Martin E. Forrester, and entitled HEATEDRESPIRATORY HOSE WIRING; which claims the benefit of the filing date ofU.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/499,623 filed Jan. 30, 2017 byMartin E. Forrester, and entitled HEATED RESPIRATORY HOSE ASSEMBLY; thedisclosure of each of which is incorporated herein by reference in itsentirety for all purposes.

BACKGROUND

The present invention relates to the field of hoses to conveyrespiratory gases to and from patients as part of treating variousmedical conditions, such as traumatic lung injury, sleep apnea, asthma,chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), hypoxemia and hypotension.Such hoses may be incorporated into assemblies of used to conveyrespiratory gases between a medical device, such as a ventilator orcontinuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) device, and a face mask, anendotracheal tube or tracheostomy stoma of a patient. Such equipment maybe used in a hospital or other medical facility, or may be used at apatient's home, such as at a patient's bedside while sleeping.

It is usually deemed desirable for such gases conveyed to a patientinclude some degree of water vapor to avoid drying tissues of apatient's respiratory system. Also, the respiratory gases that a patientbreathes out also typically include some amount of water vapor. An issuearising from the water vapor in the respiratory gases conveyed both toand from a patient is that of condensation within the hoses. If thetemperature of the gases in one of the hoses falls below the dew pointof the gases within that hose, then water vapor condenses within thathose, and possibly leads to pooling of liquid water within the lowestportion of the hose. As a result, the flow of gases through that hosemay be constricted or even cut off entirely in a manner very much akinto the pooling of water within a sink drain trap. Alternatively oradditionally, depending on where such pooling occurs within a hose, itis possible for a patient to be caused to breathe in pooled water fromwithin a hose and/or for pooled water within a hose to be sent into themedical device. Such developments may be acutely and immediately harmfulto the patient such that the patient may be caused to actually drownfrom inhalation of liquid water into the lungs, and/or the medicaldevice may be damaged by the intake of liquid water, instead of gasesbreathed out by the patient.

Among prior art efforts to address such issues is the addition of watertraps to each such hose. A water trap serves, in essence, as adesignated location along the length of a hose where liquid water can beallowed to pool relatively harmlessly out of the path of flow of gasesthrough the hose to at least minimize any possible obstruction to thepassage of gases through the hose. Unfortunately, the use of water trapssuffers various drawbacks. For a water trap to work effectively, it mustbe positioned at a point along its respective hose that is lowest inelevation such that any liquid water that is caused to condense from therespiratory gases is caused by the force of gravity to proceed towardthe water trap, instead of pooling elsewhere within the hose. Thisrequires some deliberate effort on the part of those who use such hosesand caregivers who prepare such hoses for use to ensure that the mannerin which such hoses are installed and used does indeed result in thewater traps being at the point of lowest elevation along the hoses.However, even if this is successful, each of the water traps holds afinite volume of liquid, and is therefore required to be opened andemptied on a regular basis to prevent overfilling. Also of concern isthe possibility of the liquid within a water trap collecting and growingpathogens that may then propagate into the respiratory gases passingthrough the hoses, and thereby potentially infect the patient.

Another prior art effort to address such issues is to lay heating wiresinside each of such hoses to raise the temperature of the gases thereinto be higher than the dew point, thereby avoiding the occurrence ofcondensation altogether. Unfortunately, it has been found that simplylaying heating wires within a hose results in uneven heating of thegases therein, thereby possibly leaving portions of the hose with atemperature that is still low enough relative to the dew point of thegases therein to allow condensation to occur.

Other issues exist in prior art heated respiratory hose assembliesbeyond that of condensation. The heating of such assemblies oftenentails the use of a temperature sensor that must be inserted at thecorrect location among the circulatory flow of gases to and from thepatient to be effective. Also, many medical devices also employ a gasflow sensor to provide continual confirmation of there being a flow ofrespiratory gases from the medical device to the patient, and thissensor must also be positioned at the correct location among thecirculatory flow of gases to and from the patient to be effective.Unfortunately, many prior art heated respiratory hose assemblies usenumerous individual fittings to connect the lengths of hose together toform the assembly, and to connect the assembly to both the medicaldevice and the face mask, endotracheal tube or tracheostomy stoma at thepatient end of the assembly. These numerous fittings often includeseparate fittings for the locations of the flow and temperature sensors,thereby providing opportunities for errors to occur in the connectionand placement of these sensors.

SUMMARY

The present invention addresses such needs and deficiencies as areexplained above by providing a heated respiratory hose assembly thatincludes a pair of heated hoses and various fittings to conveyrespiratory gases in a closed circuit between a medical device, such asa ventilator or CPAP device, and a patient. Such a hose assembly may beused in a medical environment, such as a hospital, outpatient carefacility or other medical facility, or a non-medical environment, suchas a patient's home or workplace. Such a hose assembly may incorporate arelatively minimal set of components to reduce opportunities for errorsin assembling those components, as well as connecting various sensorsthereto, as part of preparing the hose assembly for use.

Each hose of the heated respiratory hose assembly may incorporateelectrical wires into its support helix, which may include heating wiresto enable even distribution of the heat generated by the heating wireswithin the interior of the hose. Such heating wires may be positionedwithin the support helix at a location closer to the interior of thehose and in a manner that uses much of the material of the support helixas an insulator against the environment external to the hose to cause agreater proportion of the heat generated by the heating wires toradiated into the interior of the hose, rather than wastefully radiatedinto the environment external to the hose. To achieve such placement, abead of plastics material that forms the support helix may be extrudedaround the heating wires as the heating wires are fed through theextruder that extrudes the bead of plastics material during formation ofthe hose. Additionally, tension may be exerted on the heating wiresduring formation of the hose to cause the heating wires to be drawnthrough plastics material of the bead, while still molten, and closer tothe interior of the hose.

In other embodiments, the bead of plastics material that forms thesupport helix may be more fully formed at a stage that precedes theformation of the wall of the hose such that the heating and/or otherelectrical wires may already be positioned as desired within the supporthelix before the support helix is combined with the one or moreextrusions used to form the wall. More specifically, the bead ofplastics material may be extruded around the heating and/or otherelectrical wires as those wires are fed through the extruder thatextrudes the bead. However, instead of directly winding the newly formedbead around the wall of the hose, the newly formed bead may be routedthrough a trough of water (or other cooling device) to cool the plasticsmaterial of the newly formed bead enough to cause the plastics materialto be hardened enough to prevent the heating and/or other electricalwires from migrating within the plastics material. In this way, thecross-section of the newly formed bead is stabilized such that theposition of the heating and/or other electrical wires therein is set.

Following such cooling, the newly formed and cooled bead may then be fedthrough a heating tube in which the bead is re-heated to a controlleddegree that causes outer surface portions thereof to slightly moltensuch that the outer surface portions are softened and become tacky,while avoiding heating the bead to such an extent that inner portionsthereof are also caused to become molten such that the heating and/orother electrical wires therein are caused to be able to migrate to newpositions therein. By softening the outer surface portions, the nowre-heated bead is now less resistant to being wrapped around theexterior of the wall of a hose. By making the outer surface portionstacky, the now re-heated bead is caused to readily bond to the exteriorwall of the hose as it is wrapped around the exterior wall of the hose,thereby becoming the support helix of the heated hose and completing theformation of the heated hose.

Alternatively, following such cooling, the newly formed and cooled beadmay, instead of being immediately re-heated and used as the supporthelix in the formation of a heated hose, be stored in a roll (e.g.,wound on a spindle, etc.) for storage for later use in the formation ofa heated hose at a later time. It may be deemed desirable to store rollsof multiple types of beads, each having a different externalcross-sectional shape, and/or a different assortment of heating and/orother electrical wires formed therein, and/or with different positionalarrangements of heating and/or other electrical wires therein. Suchstorage of such a variety of beads may enable the on-demand orjust-in-time manufacturing of heated hoses where the type of bead to beincluded is able to be selected from among such a variety for eachheated hose that is to be made.

Regardless of whether the newly formed and cooled bead is usedimmediately in forming a heated hose or stored for later use in forminga heated hose, in some embodiments, the re-heating of the outer surfaceportions of the newly formed and cooled bead may entail feeding thenewly formed and cooled bead through a heating tube into which hot airis blown. The temperature and/or volume of the hot air blown into theheating tube may be adjusted to control the degree to which outersurface portions of the bead are caused to become molten. Such hot airtemperature and/or volume control may be based on various factors,including and not limited to, the cross-section of the heating tube, thecross-section of the bead, the length of the heating tube and/or thespeed at which the bead is fed through the heating tube.

Each hose of the heated respiratory hose assembly may incorporate a pairof hose fittings, one at each end of each hose. Each such hose fittingmay be formed of rigid plastics material and may be shaped and sized toenable connection of its corresponding end of a hose to a medical deviceor to a face mask, endotracheal tube, tracheostomy stoma or othercomponent worn by or otherwise carried by a patient, and may do sodirectly or through at least one other component interposedtherebetween. Each such hose fitting may be permanently coupled to itscorresponding end of a hose by an undermold coupling formed of flexibleplastics material to provide a gas-tight seal between the fitting andits corresponding end of the hose, and/or to provide a strain relief toprevent damage to the hose where the end of the hose is coupled to itscorresponding fitting.

Each undermold coupling may be formed as a single piece of the flexibleplastics material, and may include a generally cylindrical tubularportion and at least one ladder-like grating. Threads may be formed onthe interior surface of the cylindrical tubular portion to enable thecylindrical tubular portion to be threaded onto the exterior of an endof a hose as part of coupling the undermold coupling to an end of ahose. Each hose fitting may be formed as a single piece of the rigidplastics material, and may include a generally cylindrical tubularportion. The cylindrical tubular portion may have a slightly largerdiameter than the cylindrical tubular portion of its correspondingundermold coupling to receive and closely surround the cylindricaltubular portion of its corresponding undermold coupling therein.

A set of slots may be formed through a portion of the cylindrical wallof the cylindrical tubular portion of each hose fitting to interact withthe at least one ladder-like grating of the corresponding undermoldcoupling as part of forming a permanent mechanical coupling between thefitting and the corresponding undermold coupling. As the cylindricaltubular portion of an undermold coupling is received within thecylindrical tubular portion of a hose fitting, a ladder-like grating ofthe undermold coupling may be hinged or may be otherwise partly pulledaway from contact with the exterior of the cylindrical tubular portionof the undermold coupling to allow portions of the ladder-like gratingto be positioned to overlie, and then extend into and through the slotsformed through the cylindrical wall of the cylindrical tubular portionof the hose fitting. In so extending through the slots, those portionsof the ladder-like grating are allowed to come back into contact withthe exterior of the cylindrical tubular portion of the undermoldcoupling. Such an assembled combination of a hose fitting and acorresponding undermold coupling may then be heated to cause bonding ofthe flexible plastics material of the undermold coupling to the rigidplastics material of the hose fitting to form a gas-tight sealtherebetween, and to cause bonding between the portions of theladder-like grating that extend through the slots and the exteriorsurface of the cylindrical tubular portion of the undermold to aid inpermanently mechanically interlocking the hose fitting to the undermold.

At one end of each hose, the support helix may be partially unwound, andthe unwound end of the support helix may be extended at least partiallywithin the corresponding hose fitting to an electrical connector throughwhich the heating and/or other electrical wires within the support helixmay be provided with electrical power and/or may exchange variouselectrical signals. At the electrical connector, the ends of the heatingand/or other electrical wires at the unwound end of the support helixmay each be directly soldered to, or otherwise directly electricallyconnected to, an electrical contact of the electrical connector to. Inembodiments in which the hose fitting is a Y-fitting, a T-fitting, orsome other form of three-way fitting, such an electrical connector maybe carried within a plug that may be carried within, and may entirelyclose, one of the three cylindrical connections of the hose fitting. Inthis way, one of the three cylindrical connections of the hose fittingthrough which gases may have otherwise been caused to flow may berepurposed to serve as an electrical connection point.

In other embodiments, the electrical connector may be located entirelyoutside of the hose fitting. In such embodiments, the unwound end of thesupport helix may be caused to further extend out of the hose fittingand to the location of the electrical connector in the environmentexternal to the hose fitting and external to the corresponding hose. Theportion of the unwound end of the support helix that extends out of thehose fitting may be sheathed in heat-shrink tubing or other material toprovide a degree of physical protection to that portion of the unwoundend of the support helix. Such heat-shrink tubing or other materialproviding such a sheath may also provide thermal insulation to prevent apatient or other person who comes into contact with that portion of theunwound end of the support helix being burned by the heat emitted byheating wires that may extend therethrough. In this way, the portion ofthe unwound end of the support helix that extends outside of the hosefitting is repurposed to serve as a “pigtail” to enable an electricalconnection to a medical device to provide electric power to the heatingwires and/or to enable an exchange of electrical signals with otherelectrical wires within the support helix.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A fuller understanding of what is disclosed in the present applicationmay be had by referring to the description and claims that follow, takenin conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1A is an elevational view of an example embodiment of a heatedrespiratory hose assembly.

FIG. 1B is a perspective view of the heated respiratory hose assembly ofFIG. 1A showing details of electrical connectors thereof.

FIG. 1C is another perspective view of the heated respiratory hoseassembly of FIG. 1A.

FIG. 1D is an exploded perspective view of the heated respiratory hoseassembly of FIG. 1A showing details of the electrical connectors thereofand details of the coupling of hoses to hose fittings thereof.

FIG. 1E is another exploded perspective view of the heated hose assemblyof FIG. 1A.

FIG. 2A is a block diagram of heated respiratory hose assembly of FIG.1A showing details of the flow of respiratory gases therethrough and themonitoring of flow and temperature thereof.

FIG. 2B is a perspective view of the inspiratory hose assembly of theheated respiratory hose assembly of FIG. 1A showing details of a sensorharness that is to be connected thereto.

FIG. 2C is a perspective view of the inspiratory inlet fitting of theinspiratory hose assembly of FIG. 2B showing features of the inspiratoryinlet fitting to aid in correctly connecting a flow sensor of the sensorharness to enable correct operation thereof.

FIG. 3A is an exploded perspective view of an alternate embodiment of aheated respiratory hose assembly.

FIG. 3B is a perspective view of another alternate embodiment of aheated respiratory hose assembly.

FIG. 3C is a perspective view of the inspiratory hose assembly of stillanother embodiment of a heated respiratory hose assembly.

FIG. 4A is a cross-sectional view of a portion of one of the hoses ofany of the embodiments of heated respiratory hose assembly of any ofFIG. 1A, 3A, 3B or 3C showing details of the wall and support helixthereof.

FIG. 4B is a combination of perspective and cross-sectional views of aportion of the support helix of the hose of FIG. 4A showing details ofthe electrical wires incorporated therein.

FIG. 4C is a perspective view of components of a hose making apparatusthat may be adapted to make the hose of FIG. 4A.

FIG. 4D is a block diagram of components of a hose making apparatus(e.g., the hose making apparatus of FIG. 4C) that has been adapted inaccordance with one embodiment of adaptation to make the hose of FIG.4A.

FIG. 4E is a cross-sectional view of a portion of the hose of FIG. 4Aduring the making thereof using the embodiment of adaptation of a hosemaking apparatus of FIG. 4D, showing details of combining the supporthelix and wall thereof.

FIG. 4F is another cross-sectional view of the portion of the hose shownin FIG. 4E during the making thereof using the embodiment of adaptationof a hose making apparatus of FIG. 4D, showing details of the bonding ofthe support helix to the wall thereof and of the drawing of electricalwires thereof toward the interior of the hose.

FIGS. 5A and 5B, together, provide a block diagram of components of ahose making apparatus (e.g., the hose making apparatus of FIG. 4C) thathas been adapted in accordance with an alternate embodiment ofadaptation to make the hose of FIG. 4A.

FIG. 5C is a block diagram of components of a heating device that may beincorporated into the embodiment of adaptation of the hose makingapparatus of FIGS. 5A-B.

FIG. 5D is a cross-sectional view of a portion of the hose of FIG. 4Aduring the making thereof using the embodiment of adaptation of a hosemaking apparatus of FIGS. 5B-C, showing details of combining the supporthelix and wall thereof.

FIG. 5E is another block diagram of the heating device of FIG. 5C.

FIG. 5F is still another block diagram of the heating device of FIG. 5C.

FIG. 5G is a block diagram of an alternate heating device that may beincorporated into the embodiment of adaptation of the hose makingapparatus of FIGS. 5A-B.

FIG. 5H is a block diagram of another alternate heating device that maybe incorporated into the embodiment of adaptation of the hose makingapparatus of FIGS. 5A-B.

FIG. 5I provides another block diagram of components of a hose makingapparatus that has been adapted in accordance with still anotheralternate embodiment of adaptation to make the hose of FIG. 4A toincorporate the alternate heating device of either FIG. 5G or FIG. 5H.

FIGS. 6A and 6B, together, provide cross-sectional views of a variety ofembodiments of support helix (including of the support helix of FIGS.4B-D and 4E-F) having a “bread slice” cross-section.

FIGS. 6C, 6D, 6E and 6F, together, provide cross-sectional views of avariety of embodiments of support helix having a “mushroom”cross-section.

FIGS. 6G and 6H, together, provide cross-sectional views of a variety ofembodiments of support helix having a generally ellipticalcross-section.

FIGS. 6I, 6J and 6K, together, provide cross-sectional views of avariety of embodiments of support helix having a generally rectangularcross-section.

FIG. 6L provides a cross-sectional view of an embodiment of supporthelix having a generally triangular cross-section.

FIG. 7A is a perspective view a hose fitting and corresponding undermoldcoupling of any of the embodiments of heated respiratory hose assemblyof any of FIG. 1A, 3A, 3B or 3C showing details of the features of oneof the hose fittings and corresponding undermold coupling that are usedto couple each to the other, and that are used to couple the undermoldcoupling to an end of one of the hoses.

FIG. 7B is another perspective view of the hose fitting andcorresponding undermold coupling of FIG. 7A showing details of themanner in which features of each are used to coupled each to the other.

FIG. 7C is an elevational view of the hose fitting and correspondingundermold coupling of FIG. 7A prior to the coupling of each to theother.

FIG. 7D is a cross-sectional view of the hose fitting and correspondingundermold coupling of FIG. 7A during the coupling of one to the other.

FIG. 7E is another cross-sectional view, similar to FIG. 5D, of the hosefitting and corresponding undermold coupling of FIG. 5A during thecoupling of one to the other.

FIG. 8A is a partial perspective view of the inspiratory hose assemblyof the heated respiratory hose assembly of FIG. 1A showing details ofthe electrical connection of an unwound end of the support helix of thehose thereof to an electrical connector carried within a plug within ahose fitting thereof.

FIG. 8B is another partial perspective view of the inspiratory hoseassembly of FIG. 8A showing further details of the electrical connectionof the unwound end of the support helix to the electrical connector.

FIG. 8C is a partial perspective view of the expiratory hose assembly ofthe heated respiratory hose assembly of FIG. 1A showing details of theelectrical connection of an unwound end of the support helix of the hosethereof to an electrical connector carried within a plug within a hosefitting thereof.

FIG. 8D is an exploded perspective view of the combination of the plugand electrical connector of the inspiratory hose assembly of FIGS. 8Aand 8B showing details of the manner in which the plug may be assembledfrom multiple pieces around the electrical connector.

FIG. 8E is a perspective view of the plug of the inspiratory hoseassembly of FIGS. 8A and 8B showing details of the shaping of the plugimprove the flow of respiratory gases through the inspiratory hoseassembly.

FIG. 8F is an exploded perspective view of the combination of the plugand electrical connector of the expiratory hose assembly of FIG. 8Cshowing details of the manner in which the plug may be assembled frommultiple pieces around the electrical connector.

FIG. 8G is a perspective view of the plug of the expiratory hoseassembly of FIG. 8C showing details of the shaping of the plug improvethe flow of respiratory gases through the inspiratory hose assembly.

FIG. 9A is a partial elevational view of either the inspiratory hoseassembly or the expiratory hose assembly of the embodiment of the heatedrespiratory hose assembly of FIG. 3B.

FIG. 9B is another partial elevational view of either the inspiratoryhose assembly or the expiratory hose assembly of the embodiment of theheated respiratory hose assembly of FIG. 3B showing details of themanner in which the support helix is shaped and positioned within a hosefitting as part of forming a pigtail.

FIG. 9C is a combination of perspective and cross-sectional views of aportion of a pigtail of one of the hoses of either of the embodiments ofheated respiratory hose assembly of any of FIG. 3B or 3C showing detailsof the formation of the pigtail from a portion of an unwound end of asupport helix.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIGS. 1A through 1E, taken together, depict aspects of a novel heatedrespiratory hose assembly 1000 that addresses many of the shortcomingsof prior art assemblies, including those discussed above. As depicted inFIG. 1A, the heated respiratory hose assembly 1000 may include twosub-assemblies, specifically an inspiratory hose assembly 1002 by whichrespiratory gases may be conveyed from a medical device to a patient tobreathe in, and an expiratory hose assembly 1006 by which respiratorygases breathed out by the patient may be conveyed back to the medicaldevice. This circular flow is also conceptually depicted in FIG. 2A.

The inspiratory hose assembly 1002 includes an inspiratory inlet fitting1100 for connection to a medical device 990 (e.g., a ventilator or CPAPdevice), an inspiratory outlet fitting 1300 for connection to a parallelY-fitting 1400 at the patient end, and an inspiratory hose 1200 toconvey respiratory gases received by the inspiratory inlet fitting 1100from the medical device 990 and to the inspiratory outlet fitting 1300to be conveyed onward to the patient through the parallel Y-fitting1400. Correspondingly, the expiratory hose assembly 1006 includes anexpiratory inlet fitting 1500 for connection to the parallel Y-fitting1400 at the patient end, an expiratory outlet fitting 1700 forconnection to the medical device 990, and an expiratory hose 1600 toconvey respiratory gases received by the expiratory inlet fitting 1500from the patient through parallel Y-fitting 1400 and to the expiratoryoutlet fitting 1700 to be conveyed onward to the medical device 990. Atthe patient end, the parallel Y-fitting 1400 may connect the heatedrespiratory hose assembly 1000 to a face mask 940, an endotracheal tube940, a tracheostomy stoma 940 (see FIG. 2A) or other component.

Each of FIGS. 1B and 1C provide a perspective view of one embodiment ofthe heated respiratory hose assembly 1000 in which the inspiratory inletfitting 1100 and the expiratory outlet fitting 1700 are both implementedwith 120-degree Y-fittings in which there is both a straight-throughpath for either gases or wiring to pass from the hoses 1200 and 1600,respectively, and an angled path that branches off from thestraight-through path at a 120-degree angle relative to the connectionsto the hoses 1200 and 1600, respectively. Each of FIGS. 1D and 1Eprovide an exploded perspective view of this embodiment. In thisembodiment, one of the connections of each of the Y-fittings 1100 and1700 is occupied by a plug 1180 and 1780 that carries an electricalconnector 1190 and 1790, respectively. In the depicted variant of thisembodiment, at the inspiratory inlet fitting 1100, the straight-throughconnection (relative to the connection to the inspiratory hose 1200) isoccupied by the plug 1180 that carries the electrical connector 1190 bywhich electric power is able to be provided to a pair of heating wiresincorporated into the support helix of the inspiratory hose 1200, aswill be explained in greater detail. Correspondingly, in this depictedvariant of this embodiment, at the expiratory outlet fitting 1700, the120-degree connection (relative to the connection to the expiratory hose1600) is occupied by the plug 1780 that carries the electrical connector1790 by which electric power is able to be provided to a pair of heatingwires incorporated into the helix of the expiratory hose 1600, as willalso be explained in greater detail.

It should be noted that, despite such a depiction of the use ofparticular ones of the three connections of each of the Y-fittings 1100and 1700 in FIGS. 1A-E as being occupied by plugs carrying electricalconnectors, different connections of the Y-fittings 1100 and 1700 may beso occupied in other variants of the embodiment of the heatedrespiratory hose assembly 1000 of FIGS. 1A-E. Also, and as will bedepicted in subsequent figures, it should be noted that otherembodiments of the heated respiratory hose assembly 1000 may employ hosefitting(s) 1100 and/or 1700 of an entirely different type that may eachprovide a different selection of connections from which one may bechosen to be occupied by a plug carrying an electrical connector.

FIGS. 2A through 2C, taken together, depict aspects of the use ofsensors with at least the inspiratory hose assembly 1002 of the heatedrespiratory hose assembly 1000 to monitor the flow and/or temperature ofat least respiratory gases from the medical device 990 to the patient.As depicted, the inspiratory inlet fitting 1100 may additionally includea flow sensor port 1110 formed through a portion of the wall of theinspiratory inlet fitting 1100. The flow sensor port 1110 provides anopening into the inspiratory interior of the inlet fitting 1100 throughwhich a flow sensor 910 of a sensor harness 902 is able to be insertedto continually confirm the flow of respiratory gases from the medicaldevice 990 and toward the patient at the patient end. As will beexplained in greater detail, the flow sensor 910 is directional innature such that it must be installed within the flow sensor port 1110in a correct orientation to function properly.

As depicted, the inspiratory outlet fitting 1300 may additionallyinclude a temperature sensor port 1330 formed through the wall of theinspiratory outlet fitting 1300. The temperature sensor port 1330provides an opening into the interior of the inspiratory outlet fitting1300 by which a temperature sensor 930 of the sensor harness 902 is ableto be inserted to continually monitor the temperature of the respiratorygases output by the medical device 990 at a location towards the patientend (i.e., just before those respiratory gases are conveyed through theinspiratory outlet fitting 1300 and into the parallel Y-fitting 1400 tobe conveyed onward to the patient).

In some embodiments, and as can best be seen in FIG. 2B, the inspiratoryinlet fitting 1100 may carry a port plug 1112 that may be used to closeand seal the flow sensor port 1110 in situations where at least theinspiratory hose assembly 1002 is used without the flow sensor 910installed within the flow sensor port 1110. Alternatively oradditionally, the inspiratory outlet fitting 1300 may carry a port plug1332 that may similarly be used to close and seal the temperature sensorport 1330 in situations where at least the inspiratory hose assembly1002 is used without the temperature sensor 930 installed within thetemperature sensor port 1330. As depicted, the port plugs 1112 and 1332may be carried by the hose fittings 1100 and 1300, respectively, bybeing attached thereto with elongate stretches of the rigid plasticsmaterial of the hose fittings 1100 and 1300 that are long and thinenough as to be sufficiently flexible that the port plugs 1112 and 1332are able to be maneuvered to and from the ports 1110 and 1330,respectively, for a relatively limited number of times without theelongate stretches breaking.

As also depicted, the flow sensor 910 and the temperature sensor 930 maybe physically connected by a length of cabling 920 of the sensor harness902 that is meant to follow the length of the inspiratory hose 1200, andby which signals of the temperature sensor 930 are conveyed toward thelocation of the flow sensor 910. As can also be seen, there may also beanother length of cabling 920 of the sensor harness 902 that extendsfrom the flow sensor 910 and towards the medical device 990 to conveythe signals of both sensors 910 and 930 to the medical device 990.

Referring more specifically to FIG. 2A, during operation of the medicaldevice 990, respiratory gases to be breathed in by a patient areconveyed from the medical device 990, through the inspiratory inletfitting 1100, then the inspiratory hose 1200, then the inspiratoryoutlet fitting 1300, then the parallel Y-fitting 1400, and then to thepatient via still another component, such as a face mask 940, anendotracheal tube 940, a tracheostomy stoma 940 or other component. Alsoduring operation of the medical device 990, respiratory gases breathedout by the patient are conveyed from the patient through such acomponent (e.g., the face mask 940, the tracheal tube 940, thetracheostomy stoma 940 or other component), then the parallel Y-fitting1400, then the expiratory inlet fitting 1500, then the expiratory hose1600, then the expiratory outlet fitting 1700, and onward to the medicaldevice 990.

While this circular flow of respiratory gases goes on between themedical device 990 and the patient, the medical device 990 monitors theflow sensor 910 to ensure that respiratory gases to be breathed in bythe patient are, in fact, output by the medical device 990 and into theinspiratory hose assembly 1002 of the heated respiratory hose assembly1000 towards the patient. If a lack of flow and/or flow in a wrongdirection is detected by the sensor 910, then the medical device 990 maysound an alarm and/or provide some other audio and/or visual indicationof the lack of flow and/or the incorrect direction of flow. Also whilethis circular flow of respiratory gases goes on between the medicaldevice 990 and the patient, the medical device monitors the temperaturesensor 930 to ensure that the respiratory gases that reach the patientend of the inspiratory hose 1200 are of a correct temperature, both toprevent condensation within the inspiratory hose 1200, and for thehealth of the patient.

Referring more specifically to FIG. 2C, as just discussed, thedirectional nature of the flow sensor 910 requires correct installationof the flow sensor 910 within the interior of the inspiratory inletfitting 1100 to ensure that it is caused to sense the flow ofrespiratory gases towards the patient with a correct orientation.Otherwise, it may be that the flow sensor 910 is caused to at leastattempt to detect a flow of respiratory gases in a direction opposite ofthe correct direction towards the patient. The inspiratory inlet fitting1100 may carry a flow sensor guide 1119 adjacent to the flow sensor port1110 to cooperate with the shape of a portion of the exterior of theflow sensor 910 to aid in correctly positioning the flow sensor 910relative to the flow sensor port 1110 and the interior of theinspiratory inlet fitting 1100. Alternatively or additionally, the flowsensor port 1110 may be formed to include a short tube-like portion witha bevel cut 1111 to interact with an orientation key 911 carried on aportion of the exterior of the flow sensor 910 to aid in correctlypositioning the flow sensor 910 relative to the flow sensor port 1110and the interior of the inspiratory inlet fitting 1100.

The medical device 990 may selectively turn on and off the provision ofelectric power to heating wires within the inspiratory hose 1200 and theexpiratory hose 1600 to selectively apply heat thereto based on thetemperature sensed by the temperature sensor 930. More specifically, andas will be explained in greater detail, each of the hoses 1200 and 1600may incorporate at least a pair of heating wires that may be connectedto the medical device 990 at one end of each of the hoses 1200 and 1600,and that may be soldered, crimped or otherwise electrically connected atthe other end of each of the hoses 1200 and 1600 to form a separateclosed loop of electric current through each of the hoses 1200 and 1600.

Some medical devices 990 may turn on and off the provision of electricpower to the heating wires of both hoses together. Indeed, some medicaldevices 990 may selectively provide the very same voltage from the verysame power source to the heating wires of both hoses. However, it may bethe case that each of the two hoses 1200 and 1600 are to be heated todifferent temperatures. Thus, the heating wires employed in the twohoses 1200 and 1600 may be of different resistances and/or have otherdiffering characteristics to bring about such a difference intemperature. More specifically, it may be deemed desirable to heat therespiratory gases being conveyed to the patient through the inspiratoryhose 1200 to a higher temperature than the respiratory gases beingconveyed from the patient through the expiratory hose 1600. The heatingof gases conveyed to the patient may be deemed of greater importance forsuch purposes as achieving a particular higher temperature to help thepatient maintain a particular body temperature, aid in treating thepatient for a particular respiratory illness, etc. Such heating of thegases conveyed to the patient would also be intended to preventcondensation from occurring within the inspiratory hose 1200. Incontrast, the heating of gases conveyed from the patient may be solelyfor the purpose of preventing condensation from occurring within theexpiratory hose 1600.

Each of FIGS. 3A through 3C depict another possible embodiment of theheated respiratory hose assembly 1000 in which other possible differentversions (or combinations of versions) of the inspiratory inlet fitting1100 and the expiratory outlet fitting 1700 may be used. FIG. 3Aprovides an exploded perspective view of an alternate embodiment of theheated respiratory hose assembly 1000 in which the inspiratory inletfitting 1100 and the expiratory outlet fitting 1700 are both T-fittings,instead of the 120-degree Y-fittings depicted in FIGS. 1A through 1E.FIG. 3B provides a perspective view of another alternate embodiment ofthe heated respiratory hose assembly 1000 in which the inspiratory inletfitting 1100 and the expiratory outlet fitting 1700 are boththrough-fittings, and from each of which a pigtail 1285 and 1685 emergesby which the electrical connection to the heating wires of the hoses1200 and 1600, respectively, are separately made. FIG. 3C provides aperspective view of the expiratory hose assembly 1006 of still anotherembodiment of the heated respiratory hose assembly 1000 in which atleast the expiratory outlet fitting 1700 is a through-fitting from whichthe pigtail 1685 by which electrical connection is made to the heatingwires of the expiratory hose 1600 emerges in a direction perpendicularto the direction from which the expiratory hose 1600 emerges. Incontrast, the pigtails 1285 and/or 1685 depicted in the embodiment ofFIG. 3B emerge from the hose respective fittings 1100 and/or 1700 in adirection that is parallel to (and alongside) the hoses 1200 and/or1600, respectively.

It should be noted that, despite such depictions of particular alternateembodiments, still other alternate embodiments of the heated respiratoryhose assembly 1000 are possible in which still other types of fittingsare employed as one or both of the inspiratory inlet fitting 1100 andthe expiratory outlet fitting 1700. Further, it should be noted that,despite the depictions of the inspiratory outlet fitting 1300 and of theexpiratory inlet fitting 1500 being unchanged throughout these multipledepicts of differing embodiments of the heated respiratory hose assembly1000, other embodiments are possible in which other types of fittingsmay be employed as one or both of the inspiratory outlet fitting 1300and the expiratory inlet fitting 1500. Further, it should be noted that,despite the depictions of the inspiratory inlet fitting 1100 and theexpiratory outlet fitting 1700 being of the same type, still otherembodiments of the heated respiratory hose assembly 1000 are possible inwhich the inspiratory inlet fitting 1100 and the expiratory outletfitting 1700 are of different types (e.g., one may be a Y-fitting andthe other may be a T-fitting, or one may be a Y-fitting or T-fittingthat carries a plug with an electrical connector and the other may be athrough-fitting with a pigtail that carries another plug).

FIGS. 4A through 4F, taken together, depict various aspects of oneembodiment of a process for making the inspiratory hose 1200 and/or theexpiratory hose 1600, including aspects of forming the support helixes1280 and/or 1680 thereof to include one or more electrical wires 1290and/or 1690, respectively. It should be noted that, although the helixes1280 and 1680 are depicted as each incorporating a pair of heating wires1290 and 1690, respectively, other embodiments of the hoses 1200 and/or1600 are possible in which different numbers of electrical wires(whether heating wires, or other varieties of electrical wires) may beincorporated into the helixes 1280 and/or 1680, respectively, as well asother embodiments in which there may be multiple helixes that each carryone or more different electrical wires (again, whether heating wires, ornot).

As depicted most clearly in FIG. 4A, each of the hoses 1200 and 1600 mayinclude a wall 1270 and 1670, respectively, that is physically supportedby a corresponding one of the support helixes 1280 and 1680. As alsodepicted, the support helixes 1280 and 1680 may spirally wrap around theexterior of the walls 1270 and 1670, respectively, in a manner thatleaves a continuous helical stretch of the walls 1270 and 1670 betweenadjacent coils of the support helixes 1280 and 1680 that enable thehoses 1200 and 1600, respectively, to be flexible enough to bend.Additionally, such spacing between adjacent coils of the support helixes1280 and 1680 may be of a distance selected to allow fold(s), curve(s)and/or convolution(s) to be formed in the continuous helical stretch ofthe walls 1270 and 1670 therebetween to enable the hoses 1200 and 1600,respectively, to be axially stretched and compressed (i.e., lengthenedor shortened along the depicted axis 101), as well as to bend.

As depicted most clearly in FIG. 4B, the heating wires 1290 and 1690 maybe positioned within the flexible plastics material of the supporthelixes 1280 and 1680 to bring them closer to the interior of the hoses1200 and 1600, respectively, than to the environment external thereto.In this way, much of the flexible plastics material that makes up thesupport helixes 1280 and 1680 is used as insulation to tend to cause theheat generated by the heating wires 1290 and 1690 to be radiated intothe interiors of the hoses 1200 and 1600, respectively, instead of beingwasted by being radiated into the environment external to the hoses 1200and 1600.

As also depicted most clearly in FIG. 4B, each individual heating wire1290 and 1690 may incorporate a conductor 1291 and 1691, and anindividual insulator 1292 and 1692 in addition to the insulationprovided by the flexible plastics material of the support helix 1280 and1680, respectively. In some embodiments, the heating wire 1290 and 1690may be a variant of magnet wire or similar wire with a selectedresistance where the insulator 1292 and 1692, respectively, may be oneor more layers of polymer or other type of film. As will be recognizedby those skilled in the art, the insulators 1292 and 1692 may beselected to be capable of resisting temperatures expected to beencountered during heating of the hoses 1200 and 1600, respectively, butto not be capable resisting temperatures typically encountered duringsoldering such that electrical connections may be made to the wires 1290and 1690 using any of a variety of soldering techniques withoutrequiring stripping of the insulation 1292 and 1692, respectively, inpreparation therefor.

As depicted most clearly in FIGS. 4C and 4D, each of the hoses 1200 and1600 may be formed using a modified variant of a typical hosemanufacturing apparatus such as the depicted hose manufacturingapparatus 100. As will be familiar to those skilled in the art, such ahose manufacturing apparatus 100 may incorporate a set of rotatingrollers 110 that may be canted in adjustable orientations relative toeach other and relative to the axis 100 to form a hose therearound fromone or more spirally wound extruded lengths of plastics material. Aswill also be familiar to those skilled in the art, such hose formingtypically entails wrapping at least one extruded length of webbingmaterial for the wall of the hose and at least one extruded length of asupport bead for at least one support helix of the hose. Alternatively,a single extrusion of material that combines the webbing and supportbead may be used, as will also be familiar to those skilled in the art.An example of such hose manufacturing apparatus is disclosed in U.S.Pat. No. 9,505,164 issued Nov. 29, 2016 to Carl J. Garrett, which isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety, and from which FIG. 1was copied to provide 4C of this present application. Additional aspectsof hose making on which the making of the hoses 1200 or 1600 may also bebased are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 9,308,698 issued Apr. 12, 2016 toMartin E. Forrester, and U.S. Pat. No. 9,556,878 issued Jan. 31, 2017 toCarl J. Garrett, each of which is incorporated herein by reference intheir entireties. However, to enable the forming of the hoses 1200 and1600, such a typical hose making apparatus 100 may be modified to enablethe extrusion of the flexible plastics material of the support helixes1280 and 1680 around the heating wires 1290 and 1690, respectively,prior to the winding of the support helixes 1280 and 1680 onto therollers 110.

As depicted most clearly in FIGS. 4D and 4F, as part of suchmodifications to the hose making apparatus 100, each of the heatingwires 1290 or 1690 around which the plastics material of the supporthelix 1280 or 1680, respectively, is extruded may be tensioned, eitherby tensioner(s) 108 incorporated acting on the spool(s) 109 from whicheach of the heating wires 1290 or 1690 are unwound, or with tensioner(s)108 acting on the heating wires 1290 or 1690 at location(s) interposedbetween the spool(s) 109 and the extruder 107 b. This application oftension on the heating wires 1290 or 1680 ahead of the extruder 107 bcauses a “drawing down” of each of the heating wires 1290 or 1690through portions of the material of the support helix 1280 or 1680, andcloser towards the wall 1270 or 1670 as the hoses 1200 or 1600,respectively, are made. Stated differently, when the flexible materialof each of the support helix 1280 or 1680 is extruded around the heatingwires 1290 or 1690 that are to be embedded therein, the heating wires1290 or 1690 may initially centered within the extruded plasticsmaterial. However, as the freshly extruded (and still somewhat moltenand compliant) plastics material of the support helix 1280 or 1680 iswound about the set of rotating rods 110 of hose making apparatus 100,the tensioner(s) 108 may exert tension on the heating wires 1290 or 1690to cause the heating wires 1290 or 1690 to be pulled radially inwardlytoward the central axis 101 of the hose 1200 or 1600 being formed. Thismay cause the heating wires 1290 or 1690 to migrate within the flexibleplastics material of the support helix 1280 or 1680 (again, while stillsomewhat molten and compliant) to a position within that plasticsmaterial that is closer to the interior of the hose 1200 or 1600,respectively, being formed than their initially centered position.

As depicted most clearly in FIGS. 4E and 4F, at least as part ofenabling such use of tension to position the heating wires 1290 or 1690as desired within the cross-section of the plastics material of thesupport helix 1280 or 1680, a particular portion of the external surfaceof the support helix 1280 or 1680 may be specifically selected to bedesignated as a bonding surface 1286 or 1686, respectively, that is tobe put into contact with and bonded to a portion of the external surfaceof the wall 1270 or 1670 of the hose 1200 or 1600 that is designated asthe corresponding bonding surface 1276 or 1676. Thus, as the supporthelix 1280 or 1680 is spirally wrapped around the external surface ofthe wall 1270 or 1670, it is these designated bonding surfaces 1286 and1276, or 1686 and 1676, of each that are brought into contact with eachother and bonded to each other.

Turning more specifically to FIG. 4E, as depicted, the portion of theexternal surface of the support helix 1280 or 1680 that is selected tobe bonding surface 1286 or 1686, respectively, may be specificallyshaped and/or otherwise specifically configured for being bonded to thecorresponding bonding surface 1276 or 1676 of the hose 1270 or 1670,respectively. By way of example, and as specifically depicted, thebonding surface 1286 or 1686 may be formed to be a flat surface toaccommodate the similarly flat configuration of the bonding supportsurface 1276 or 1676, respectively. Alternatively, and also by way ofexample (though not specifically depicted), the bonding surface 1286 or1686 may be formed to define a surface of convex or concaveconfiguration to accommodate a corresponding concave or convex,respectively, configuration of the bonding surface 1276 or 1676,respectively.

Alternatively or additionally, and as also depicted, the cross-sectionof the length of extruded material from which the wall 1270 or 1670 isformed may additionally include a pair of radially outwardly projectingguides 1275 or 1675, respectively, to aid in guiding the bonding surface1286 or 1686 of the support helix 1280 or 1680 into contact with thecorresponding bonding surface 1276 or 1676 of the wall 1270 or 1670,respectively. As also depicted, such guides 1275 or 1675 may defineadditional bonding surfaces 1276 or 1676, respectively, that are meantto come into contact with, and to become bonded to, correspondingadditional bonding surfaces 1286 or 1686 formed on the exterior surfaceof the support helix 1280 or 1680, respectively. Thus, as the supporthelix 1280 or 1680 is spirally wrapped around the external surface ofthe wall 1270 or 1670, there may be multiple corresponding pairs ofbonding surfaces 1276 and 1286, or 1676 and 1686, that are brought intocontact with each other and bonded to each other.

Turning more specifically to FIG. 4F, and regardless of whether suchguide projections are provided, following the laying down of the supporthelix 1280 or 1680 onto the external surface of the wall 1270 or 1670such that the bonding surfaces 1276 and 1286, or 1676 and 1686 are putinto contact with and bonded to each other, the aforedescribed tensioncauses inward migration of the heating wires 1290 or 1690 within theflexible (and still somewhat molten and compliant) plastics material ofthe support helix 1280 or 1680 toward the wall 1270 or 1670 (which maybe less molten or no longer molten, and which may be used to stop themigration at the external surface of the wall 1270 or 1670), toward theinterior of the hose 1200 or 1600, and toward the central axis 101 ofthe hose 1200 or 1600, respectively.

This technique of causing a radially inward draw down may be deemedpreferable to attempting to position the heating wires 1290 or 1690within the cross-sections of the extrusions of the helixes 1280 or 1680at such locations during extrusion. This technique of causing a radiallyinward draw down may also provide the flexibility to allow variations inplacement of the heating wires 1290 or 1690 further radially inwardand/or further radially outward within the cross-sections of the helixes1280 or 1680, respectively, as part of creating different variants ofthe hoses 1200 or 1600 that may have different heating characteristics(and/or other characteristics that may be influenced by placement of theheating wires 1290 or 1690 within the helixes 1280 or 1680,respectively).

FIGS. 5A through 5I, taken together, depict various aspects of analternate embodiment of a process for making the inspiratory hose 1200and/or the expiratory hose 1600, including aspects of forming thesupport helixes 1280 and/or 1680 thereof to include one or moreelectrical wires 1290 and/or 1690, respectively. As with FIGS. 4A-F, itshould be noted that, although the helixes 1280 and 1680 are depicted aseach incorporating a pair of heating wires 1290 and 1690, respectively,other embodiments of the hoses 1200 and/or 1600 are possible in whichdifferent numbers of electrical wires (whether heating wires, or othervarieties of electrical wires) may be incorporated into the supporthelixes 1280 and/or 1680, respectively, as well as other embodiments inwhich there may be multiple helixes that each carry one or moredifferent electrical wires (again, whether heating wires, or not).

As in the embodiment of a hose making process of FIGS. 4A-F, in thealternate embodiment of a hose making process of FIGS. 5A-D, each of thehoses 1200 and/or 1600 may be formed using a modified variant of atypical hose manufacturing apparatus such as the hose manufacturingapparatus 100 introduced above in connection with FIG. 4C. However,while the final position of the electrical wires 1290 or 1690 within thesupport helix 1280 or 1680 is set while the hose 1200 or 1600 is formedon the hose manufacturing apparatus 100 in the process of FIGS. 4A-F, inthe alternate embodiment of FIGS. 5A-D, the final position of theelectrical wires 1290 or 1690 within the support helix 1280 or 1680 isset prior to the support helix 1280 or 1680 being introduced at the hosemanufacturing apparatus 100.

Turning to FIG. 5A, one or more spools 109 of the electrical wires 1290or 1690 may be fed to the extruder 107 b to enable a bead of plasticsmaterial to be extruded therearound as the electrical wires 1290 or 1690are fed therethrough. The resulting newly formed bead of plasticsmaterial, which will become the support helix 1280 or 1680 of a hose1200 or 1600, may then be fed through a cooling device 117 to be cooledsufficiently to cause the plastics material to be hardened enough toprevent the electrical wires 1290 or 1690, respectively, from migratingwithin the plastics material.

In some embodiments, the cooling device 117 may be a trough or otherelongate container of water or other liquid through which the newlyformed bead of support helix 1280 or 1680 is routed. In some of suchembodiments, the water or other liquid may be maintained by exposure tothe surrounding environment at an ambient room temperature that is farbelow the temperature at which the newly formed bead of support helix1280 or 1680 emerges from the extruder 107 b, where such an ambient roomtemperature is sufficiently cool as to cause sufficient hardening of theplastics material. However, in others of such embodiments, the water orother liquid may be actively cooled to a still lower temperature wheresuch a lower temperature is deemed necessary to cause sufficienthardening of the plastics material. The temperature of the water orother liquid may be based, at least in part, on the rate at which thenewly formed bead of support helix 1280 or 1680 is routed through thecooling device 117 so as to ensure that sufficient cooling is able totake place, while at the same time, avoiding excessive cooling such thatthe plastics material is caused to respond by hardening and/orcontracting in size sufficiently quickly as to cause cracking or otherundesirable changes thereto.

Following such cooling, and with the positions of the wires 1290 or 1690thereby set within the plastics material of the newly formed and cooledbead of support helix 1280 or 1680 now set, the newly formed bead ofsupport helix 1280 or 1680 may either be immediately used in making ahose 1200 or 1600, respectively, or may be temporarily stored inpreparation for making a hose 1200 or 1600 at a later time. Morespecifically, and as depicted, the newly formed bead of support helix1280 or 1680 may be wound about another spool 119 in preparation forstorage.

It may be deemed desirable to store multiple rolls of differing types ofsupport helix 1280 or 1680, whether on spools 119 or in some othermanner of storage, so as to have a selection of differing types ofsupport helix 1280 or 1680 available to enable a form of just-in-timemanufacturing of a hose 1200 or 1600 with a dynamically selected type ofsupport helix 1280 or 1680. This may obviate the need to, instead, storea variety of types of hose 1200 or 1600 that may be differentiatedsolely by the type of support helix 1280 or 1680 that is incorporatedtherein. When the need arises to make a particular type hose 1200 or1600 that includes a particular type of support helix 1280 or 1680,respectively, a roll of that particular type of support helix 1280 or1680 may then be retrieved and brought to a modified variant of the hosemanufacturing apparatus 100 to be used in making the needed hose 1200 or1600.

Turning to FIG. 5B, the modifications that may be made to the hosemanufacturing apparatus 100 may include the addition of a heating device112 to re-heat a support helix 1280 or 1680 as it is supplied to thehose manufacturing apparatus 100 as part of manufacturing a hose 1200 or1600, respectively. As the bead of support helix 1280 or 1680 is fedthrough the heating device 112, it is re-heated to a controlled degreethat causes outer surface portions of the plastics material thereof(e.g., the bonding surface 1286 or 1686) to slightly molten such thatthose outer surface portions are softened and become tacky. The degreeof re-heating may be controlled to avoid overheating to such an extentthat inner portions of the plastics material of the bead of supporthelix 1280 or 1680 in the vicinity of the electrical wires 1290 or 1690,respectively, become molten such that the electrical wires 1290 or 1690are then able to migrate to new positions within that plastics material.By making outer surface portions of the plastics material of the bead ofsupport helix 1280 or 1680 tacky (e.g., the bonding surface 1286 or1686), the now re-heated bead is caused to readily bond to the exteriorof the wall 1270 or 1670 of the hose 1200 or 1600 that is being formedfrom the web of plastics material freshly extruded by the extruder 107 a(e.g., the bonding surfaces 1276 and 1286, or 1676 and 1686, are causedto readily bond). Such softening of outer surface portions of the beadof support helix 1280 or 1680 also serves to make the bead lessresistant to being wrapped around the exterior of the wall 1270 or 1670of the hose 1200 or 1600, respectively, that is being formed with thehose manufacturing apparatus 100. More specifically, such softening ofouter surface portions serves to make the bead of support helix 1280 or1680 less resistant to being bent into the particular radius of curveneeded for it to be wrapped around the exterior of the wall 1270 or 1670of the hose 1200 or 1600, respectively, that is being so formed. In thisway, the separately formed bead of support helix 1280 or 1680 becomesthe support helix 1280 or 1680 of the hose 1200 or 1600, as depicted inFIG. 5D, thereby completing the formation thereof.

Turning to both FIGS. 5A and 5B, as an alternative to storing the beadof support helix 1280 or 1680 after it has been formed using theextruder 107 b and then cooled by the cooling device 117, the newlyformed bead of support helix 1280 or 1680 may be immediately anddirectly fed to the heating device 112 to have exterior portions of theplastics material thereof (e.g., the bonding surface 1286 or 1686)re-heated as has just been described. In this case, and as indicated bythe depicted spool 119 being drawing with dotted lines, the winding ofthe newly formed and cooled bead of support helix 1280 or 1680 onto thedepicted spool 119, and the subsequent unwinding therefrom, may beentirely obviated. Instead, the extruder 107 b and the cooling device117 may be located in the vicinity of the hose manufacturing apparatus100, along with the heating device 112.

Turning to FIG. 5C, regardless of whether the bead of support helix 1280or 1680 formed as depicted in FIG. 5A is used immediately in forming ahose 1200 or 1600, or is stored for later use in forming a hose 1200 or1600 at a later time, in some embodiments, the heating device 112 mayemploy air that has been heated to a controlled degree in re-heating thebead of the support helix 1280 or 1680 at whatever time it is brought tothe hose manufacturing apparatus 100 to form a hose 1200 or 1600,respectively. More specifically, the heating device 112 may include aheating tube 115 through which the bead of support helix 1280 or 1680 isfed on the way to being provided to the hose manufacturing apparatus100, and into which the hot air is blown to heat the support helix 1280or 1680 as it passes therethrough. The heating device 112 may include ablower 113 to pull in surrounding ambient air, and may include a heater114 to heat that ambient air as it is blown through the heater 114 andinto the heating tube 115 by the blower 113.

The temperature and/or volume of the hot air blown into the heating tube115 may be adjusted to control the degree to which outer surfaceportions of the bead of support helix 1280 or 1680 are caused to becomemolten. Such parameters as the inner diameter and/or length of theheating tube 115, and/or the temperature and/or volume of the hot airblown into the heating tube 115 may be based on such factors as thecross-section of the bead of support helix 1280 or 1680, and/or thespeed at which the bead is fed through the heating tube. The speed atwhich the bead of support helix 1280 or 1680 is fed through the heatingtube 115 may be entirely controlled by the speed at which bead is to befed to the hose manufacturing apparatus 100 to form a hose 1200 or 1600,respectively.

It has been found that the shape of the cross-section of the heatingtube 115 need not match the shape of the cross-section of the particularbead of support helix 1280 or 1680 that is fed therethrough. It has alsobeen found that the inner diameter of the heating tube 115 need not beselected to closely surround the outer surface portions of the bead ofsupport helix 1280 or 1680 that is fed therethrough. This enables theuse of a heating tube 115 that has a relatively simple, generally roundcross-section with an inner diameter that may be large enough toaccommodate a relatively wide variety of beads of support helix 1280 or1680 of a wide variety of cross-sectional shapes and sizes.

To aid in providing relatively even re-heating of outer surface portionsof a bead of support helix 1280 or 1680 fed through the heating tube115, the heating tube 115 may be shaped and/or sized, and/or thelocation within the heating tube 115 at which the hot air enters may beshaped and/or sized, to cause one or more spiraling vortices of hot airto be formed within the heating tube 115 that may serve to urge thesupport helix 1280 or 1680 to tend to remain centered within the heatingtube 115 as it passes therethrough to better enable exposure of theentirety of the outer surface thereof to the hot air.

The lack of need to employ differing heating tubes 115 of differingcross-sectional shapes and/or differing diameters to accommodate a widevariety of types of support helix 1280 or 1680 may enable a single hosemanufacturing apparatus 100 that has been modified with at least theaddition of the heating device 112 to be more easily used in making awide variety of different types of the hoses 1200 or 1600 employing awide variety of different types of the support helixes 1280 or 1680.Specifically, the heating device 112 and/or the heating tube 115 becomesa component thereof that need not be physically swapped or otherwisephysically altered when transitioning from making one type of hose 1200or 1600 with a support helix 1280 or 1680 having one cross-section tomaking another type of hose 1200 or 1600 with another support helix 1280or 1680 having a different cross-section, beyond possibly needing toreposition the heating device 112 to accommodate such other differencesas differences in the diameters of the two types of hose 1200 or 1600,respectively.

Further, the lack of need to in some way match a particular shape and/ordiameter of the heating tube 115 with a particular shape and/or diameterof cross-section of a support helix 1280 or 1680, along with the abilityto provide relatively even re-heating of outer surface portions of asupport helix 1280 or 1680, also obviates the need to in some way alignthe orientation of the heating tube 115 and/or the direction from whichhot air enters the heating tube 115 in some particular way to theorientation of the cross-section of a support helix 1280 or 1680. Stateddifferently, the direction in which a bonding surface 1286 or 1686 of asupport helix 1280 or 1680 is facing as it passes through the heatingtube 115 can be entirely ignored such that heating tube 115 need not berotated to cause the direction from which hot air enters the heatingtube 115 to be oriented in a particular manner relative to the directionin which the that bonding surface 1286 or 1686 faces. This may obviatethe need to in any way reposition the heating tube 115 relative to othercomponents of the manufacturing apparatus 100, except possibly wherethere is a change in the diameter of the hose 1200 or 1600 to be made.

Thus, and turning briefly to FIG. 5E, it is not necessary to orient asupport helix 1280 or 1680 as it is routed through the heating tube 115to cause a bonding surface 1286 or 1686 thereof to directly face theoncoming flow of hot air entering the heating tube 115, or to cause thebonding surface 1286 or 1686, respectively, to face in any otherparticular direction relative to that hot air flow. And therefore, thesupport helix 1280 or 1680 may be oriented in any direction within theheating tube 115, such as in the orientation depicted in FIG. 5F inwhich the bonding surface 1286 or 1686, respectively, is not caused toface directly into the oncoming flow of hot air into the heating tube115, or to face 180 degrees away from that hot air flow, or to face inany other particular direction relatively to that hot air flow.

Still further, the same lack of need to in some way match a particularshape and/or diameter of the heating tube 115 with a particular shapeand/or diameter of cross-section of a support helix 1280 or 1680, alongwith the ability to provide relatively even re-heating of outer surfaceportions of a support helix 1280 or 1680, also serves to enable there-heating of types of support helix 1280 or 1680 that may not have aspecific portion of the exterior thereof that is designated to serve asa bonding surface 1286 or 1686, respectively. Such a circumstance mayarise, for example, where a support helix 1280 or 1680 is used that hasa circular cross-section or other cross-section that does not define adistinct portion of its exterior that may be shaped to in someparticular way correspond to the shape of a particular portion of theexterior of the wall 1270 or 1670 of a hose 1200 or 1600, respectively.Such a circumstance may also arise, for example, where a support helix1280 or 1680 is used that has an irregularly-shaped cross-section and/ora cross-section that frequently changes along its length.

However, in embodiments in which a support helix 1280 or 1680 is usedthat has a cross-section that does define a distinct bonding surface1286 or 1686, respectively, it may be deemed desirable to use adifferent embodiment of the heating device 112 that is configured toavoid re-heating the entirety of the exterior of the support helix 1280or 1680. More specifically, it may be deemed desirable to limit there-heating of a support helix 1280 or 1680 to just the bonding surface1286 or 1686 to the extent needed to cause the bonding surface 1286 or1686 to become molten, while avoiding (at least to the extent possible)re-heating other portions of the exterior of the support helix 1280 or1680 (e.g., avoiding heating at least a portion of the exterior that ison a side of the exterior that is opposite the side that includes thesupport helix 1280 or 1680).

FIG. 5G provides a block diagram of an alternate embodiment of theheating device 112 (along with a cross-section of an example supporthelix 1280 or 1680, similar to FIGS. 5E-F) that enables such selectiveheating of the bonding surface 1286 or 1686 of a support helix 1280 or1680. As depicted, such an alternate embodiment of the heating device112 may be similar to the embodiment of FIGS. 5C and 5E-F, but with thesubstantial difference of not including the heating tube 115. Thus,unlike the embodiment of the heating device 112 of FIGS. 5C and 5E-F, inthe alternate embodiment of FIG. 5G, there may be no component thereofthat serves to in any way direct the flow of hot air that is produced bythe combination of the blower 113 and the heater 114 fully around thecross-section of a support helix 1280 or 1680. Thus, also unlike theembodiment of the heating device 112 of FIGS. 5C and 5E-F, in thealternate embodiment of FIG. 5G, the support helix 1280 or 1680 must berouted past this alternate embodiment of the heating device 112 in aposition and orientation relative thereto that causes the bondingsurface 1286 and 1686 to face into the output hot air flow so as toenable such selective re-heating of the bonding surface 1286 or 1686.

The temperature and/or volume of the hot air output by the alternateembodiment of the heating device 112 of FIG. 5G may be adjusted tocontrol the degree to which the bonding surface 1286 or 1686 is causedto become molten. Such parameters as the temperature and/or volume ofthe hot air may be based on such factors as the shape and/or size of thecross-section of the bead of support helix 1280 or 1680, the shapeand/or size of the bonding surface 1286 or 1686, the quantity and/orsize of any wires within the support helix 1280 or 1680, and/or thespeed at which the bead is fed past the heating device 112. The speed atwhich the bead of the support helix 1280 or 1680 is fed past the heatingdevice 112 may be entirely controlled by the speed at which bead is tobe fed to the hose manufacturing apparatus 100 to form a hose 1200 or1600, respectively.

FIG. 5H provides a block diagram of another alternate embodiment of theheating device 112 (also along with a cross-section of an examplesupport helix 1280 or 1680, similar to FIGS. 5E-F) that enables suchselective heating of the bonding surface 1286 or 1686 of a support helix1280 or 1680. As depicted, this other alternate embodiment of theheating device 112 may be similar to the embodiment of FIG. 5G, but withthe substantial difference of including the blower 113 to create an airflow, and instead, relying upon solely the heater 114 to output radiantheat toward the bonding surface 1286 or 1686 of a support helix 1280 or1680. Thus, like the alternate embodiment of the heating device 112 ofFIG. 5G, in this other alternate embodiment of FIG. 5H, the supporthelix 1280 or 1680 must also be routed past this alternate embodiment ofthe heating device 112 in at least a particular orientation to enablethe bonding surface 1286 or 1686 to be re-heated.

The temperature and/or level of energy of the radiant heat output by thealternate embodiment of the heating device 112 of FIG. 5H may beadjusted to control the degree to which the bonding surface 1286 or 1686is caused to become molten. Such parameters as the temperature and/orlevel of energy of the radiant heat output may be based on such factorsas the shape and/or size of the cross-section of the bead of supporthelix 1280 or 1680, the shape and/or size of the bonding surface 1286 or1686, the quantity and/or size of any wires within the support helix1280 or 1680, the speed at which the bead is fed past the heating device112, and/or the distance from the heating device 112 at which the beadis fed past the heating device 112. The speed at which the bead of thesupport helix 1280 or 1680 is fed past the heating device 112 may beentirely controlled by the speed at which bead is to be fed to the hosemanufacturing apparatus 100 to form a hose 1200 or 1600, respectively.

Referring to both of the alternate embodiments of the heating device 112of FIGS. 5G and 5H, as the bead of support helix 1280 or 1680 is fedpast either of these alternate embodiments of the heating device 112,the bonding surface 1286 or 1686 is re-heated to a controlled degreethat causes the plastics material thereof to become slightly molten suchthat the bonding surface 1286 or 1686, respectively, are softened andbecome tacky. The degree of re-heating may be controlled to avoidoverheating to such an extent that inner portions of the plasticsmaterial of the bead of support helix 1280 or 1680 in the vicinity ofthe electrical wires 1290 or 1690, respectively, become molten such thatthe electrical wires 1290 or 1690 are then able to migrate to newpositions within that plastics material. By making the plastics materialof the bonding surface 1286 or 1686 tacky, the now re-heated bondingsurface 1286 or 1686 is caused to readily bond to the exterior of thewall 1270 or 1670 of the hose 1200 or 1600 that is being formed from theweb of plastics material freshly extruded by the extruder 107 a (e.g.,the bonding surfaces 1276 and 1286, or 1676 and 1686, are caused toreadily bond).

Turning to FIG. 5I, an advantage that may be afforded by limiting (tothe extent possible) the re-heating of the exterior of a support helix1280 or 1680 to the bonding surface 1286 or 1686 may be that theplastics material that forms the bonding surface 1286 or 1686 (andextending into the plastics material of the support helix 1280 or 1680to a relatively limited depth from the bonding surface 1286 or 1686 thatis not deep enough to extend to any wires positioned therein) may becomemolten to an extent that enables the plastics material within the sideof the support helix 1280 or 1680 that includes the bonding surface 1286or 1686 to be more easily compressed as part of becoming more easilybendable so as to be more pliable for following the curvature of theexterior of the wall 1270 or 1670 of a hose 1200 and 1600 as the bondingsurface 1286 or 1686 is put into contact with the exterior of the wall1270 or 1670, respectively. By allowing at least the portion of theexterior of the support helix 1280 or 1680 that is on the side thereofthat is opposite of the bonding surface 1286 or 1686 to remain in anun-molten state, at least that portion on that side may serve to resistallowing the support helix 1280 or 1680 to become distorted in itsdimensions in other ways, such as being flattened against the wall 1270or 1670 such that the ability of the support helix 1280 or 1680 to serveits function as a physical support of the hose 1270 or 1670 iscompromised.

Alternatively or additionally, an advantage that may be afforded bylimiting (to the extent possible) the re-heating of the exterior of asupport helix 1280 or 1680 to the bonding surface 1286 or 1686 may bethat the portion of the exterior of the support helix 1280 or 1680 thatis caused to become tacky as a result of becoming molten may be largelyor entirely limited to the bonding surface 1286 or 1686. In this wayother portions of the exterior of the support helix 1280 or 1680 areallowed to remain in an un-molten state such that they do not becometacky, which may make handling the support helix 1280 or 1680(especially where it is being unwound from a spool 119 as depicted inFIG. 5B) considerably easier.

FIGS. 6A through 6L depict cross-sections of an example assortment oftypes of support helix 1280 or 1680 that may be dynamically selected foruse in making a hose 1200 or 1600, respectively. As so depicted, thesewidely differing types of support helix 1280 or 1680 may differ in shapeand/or size of the cross-section of their plastics material, as well asin the quantity, size (e.g., gauge measurement), and/or arrangement ofelectrical wires 1290 or 1690 therein.

FIGS. 6A and 6B depict the cross-sections of two example embodiments ofsupport helix 1280 or 1680 that have a similar cross-section of plasticsmaterial that may be said to resemble a slice of a loaf of bread.However, as also depicted, the quantities of electrical wires 1290 or1690 incorporated therein differs between these two example embodiments.

FIGS. 6C, 6D, 6E and 6F depict the cross-sections of four exampleembodiments of support helix 1280 or 1680 that have a similar “mushroom”cross-section of plastics material. Again, as depicted by FIGS. 6C and6D, differing quantities of electrical wires 1290 or 1690 may beincorporated into the same cross-section of the plastics material indifferent ones of these example embodiments, and in differingarrangements therein. However, FIGS. 6E and 6F also specifically depictthat electrical wires 1290 or 1690 of differing size (e.g., differinggauges) may also be incorporated into the same cross-section of plasticsmaterial in different ones of these example embodiments.

FIGS. 6G and 6H depict the cross-sections of two example embodiments ofsupport helix 1280 or 1680 that have generally similar ellipticalcross-sections of plastics material. However, as also depicted, suchcross-sections of plastics material may still differ slightly in suchdetails as the elliptical cross-section depicted in FIG. 6H having aflattened portion of its outer surface (which may enhance bonding to theouter surface of the wall 1270 or 1670), whereas the cross-sectiondepicted in FIG. 6G does not. Again, and as also depicted, thequantities of electrical wires 1290 or 1690 incorporated therein differsbetween these two example embodiments.

FIGS. 6I, 6J and 6K depict the cross-sections of three exampleembodiments of support helix 1280 or 1680 that have generally similarrectangular cross-sections of plastics material. However, as alsodepicted, such cross-sections of plastics material may still differslightly in their dimensions and/or in their ratios between height andwidth. As also depicted, even though these different embodiments allincorporate the same quantity and/or size of electrical wires 1290 or1690, they may differ in the placement of those electrical wires 1290 or1690 among these three example embodiments.

FIG. 6L depicts a cross-section of an example embodiment of supporthelix 1280 or 1680 that has a generally triangular cross-section ofplastics material.

FIGS. 7A through 7E, taken together, depict various aspects of couplingthe expiratory inlet fitting 1500 to an undermold coupling 1800, andthereby, to one end of the expiratory hose 1600. Stated differently, andas earlier depicted in the exploded perspective views in each of FIGS.1D, 1E and 3A, the expiratory inlet fitting 1500 may be coupled to oneend of the expiratory hose 1600 via the depicted undermold coupling 1800interposed between a portion of the outer surface of that end of theexpiratory hose 1600 and a portion of the inner surface of a hoseinterface 1580 of the expiratory inlet fitting 1500.

The undermold coupling 1800 may include a tubular portion 1881 having acylindrical tubular shape that defines a passage therethrough. At oneend of the tubular shape of the tubular portion 1881 may be a ring 1883that extends radially outward from the cylindrical tubular shape of thetubular portion 1881. Extending from the ring 1883 (or form anotherportion of the external surface of the tubular portion 1881) may be oneor more gratings 1885 that may be defined by one or more parallelelongate portions of the flexible plastics material of the undermoldcoupling 1800 that define one or more parallel slots 1886. Each of theelongate portions of the material that define one of the one or moregratings 1885 may be curved to allow each to extend in a manner thatfollows the curve of the cylindrical shape of the tubular portion 1881.

Each grating 1885 may be supported by, and attached to, the rest of thestructure of the undermold coupling 1800 (e.g., connected to the ringportion 1883, as depicted) by a pair of grating supports 1884 that maycooperate with the grating 1885 to create what may visually resemble aladder. The grating supports may tend to support the one or moregratings 1885 at a location and in an orientation that causes eachgrating 1885 to extend alongside and in parallel with a portion of theexternal surface of the tubular portion 1881. While each grating 1885 isso positioned by one or more of the grating supports 1884, inwardlyfacing surfaces 1888 of each of the one or more curved elongate portionsof flexible plastics material that defines each of the gratings 1885 maytend to be positioned in contact with the portion of the externalsurface of the tubular portion 1881 that its corresponding grating 1885overlies. Being formed of the flexible plastics material of theundermold coupling 1800, the grating supports 1884 may each be flexibleenough to allow each of the gratings 1885 to be pulled away from itsposition extending alongside and parallel with a portion of the externalsurface of the tubular portion 1881 (thereby pulling the inwardly facingsurfaces thereof out of contact with the external surface of the tubularportion 1881.

The hose interface of the expiratory inlet fitting 1500 may incorporateone or more gratings 1586 that are meant to correspond to the one ormore gratings 1885 carried by the undermold coupling 1800. Each of theone or more gratings 1586 may be defined by one or more parallelelongate portions of the rigid plastics material of the expiratory inletfitting 1500 that define one or more parallel slots 1585 that may havethe appearance of a set of one or more vent slots formed through thewall of the expiratory inlet fitting 1500. Each of the elongate portionsof the material that define one of the one or more gratings 1586 may becurved to allow each to extend in a manner that parallels the curve ofthe cylindrical shape of the tubular portion 1881. Additionally, the oneor more parallel elongate portions of the material of the expiratoryfitting 1500 that define one of the one or more gratings 1586, and theone or more slots 1585 defined thereby, may be intersected by one ormore troughs 1584 formed in the cylindrical external surface of theexpiratory inlet fitting 1500 to receive a corresponding one or more ofthe grating supports 1884.

As depicted most clearly in FIGS. 7A, 7B, 7D and 7E, the undermoldcoupling 1800 may include threads 1882 formed on the inner surface ofthe tubular portion 1881 to receive and surround the external surface ofone end of the expiratory hose 1600 in a manner that engages the wall1670 and the support helix 1680 thereof as if the wall 1670 and helix1680, together, formed matching threads as a mechanism by which theundermold coupling 1800 may grip that end of expiratory hose 1600 withinthe tubular portion 1881. In some embodiments, the tubular portion 1881of the undermold coupling 1800 may be threaded onto an end of theexpiratory hose 1600.

Turning more specifically to FIGS. 7B and 7C, with the undermoldcoupling 1800 so threaded onto an end of the expiratory hose 1600, thatend of the expiratory hose 1600 may be inserted into the hose interface1580 of the expiratory inlet fitting 1500. As a result, the tubularportion 1881 of undermold coupling 1800 is inserted into the hoseinterface 1580 and becomes interposed between the external surface ofthat end of the expiratory hose 1600 and the internal surface of thehose interface 1580 of the expiratory inlet fitting 1500. As depicted inmost clearly in FIGS. 7B and 7C, as such insertion occurs, each grating1885 of the undermold coupling 1800 may be pulled away from the tubularportion 1881 (relying on the flexibility of the grating supports 1884 toact somewhat like hinges) and caused to extend over exterior portions ofthe expiration inlet fitting 1500 in the vicinity of the hose interface1580. With each grating 1885 so positioned over its correspondinggrating 1586, the grating 1885 may then be allowed to return to aposition alongside and parallel to the external surface of the tubularportion 1881 of the undermold coupling 1800.

As depicted most clearly in FIG. 7D, with the each of the gratings 1885allowed to return to a position alongside and parallel to the externalsurface of the tubular portion 1881 while each of the gratings 1885 ispositioned over its corresponding grating 1586, the corresponding onesof the one or more gratings 1885 and 1586 are caused to intermesh in amanner that mechanically locks the undermold coupling 1800 within thehose interface 1580. More specifically, in each such interlock between acorresponding pair of gratings 1885 and 1586, each of the elongateportions of a grating 1885 of the undermold coupling 1800 extends into acorresponding slot 1585 defined by the corresponding grating 1586 of theexpiratory inlet fitting 1500, and each of the elongate portions of thatcorresponding grating 1586 extends into a corresponding slot 1886defined by the grating 1885.

As a result, the inwardly facing surfaces 1888 of each of the one ormore curved elongate portions of the flexible plastics material of theundermold coupling that define each of the gratings 1885 is allowed tobe brought back into contact with a portion of the external surface ofthe tubular portion 1881, as most clearly depicted in FIG. 7D. With suchsurface contacts once again made, while the one or more correspondingpairs of the gratings 1885 and 1586 are so intermeshed, heat may beapplied to soften at least the undermold coupling 1800 to cause theinwardly facing surfaces 1888 of those portions of the one or moregratings 1885 that are once again in contact with the external surfaceof the tubular portion 1881 to become bonded to the exterior of thetubular portion 1881, as most clearly depicted in FIG. 7E. Such heatingmay also more broadly bond the materials of the thread-like exterior ofthe end of the expiratory hose 1600 (onto which the undermold coupling1800 is threaded) to surfaces of the threads 1882 formed within theundermold coupling 1800, and such heating may also more broadly bond thematerial of the exterior surface of the tubular portion 1881 of theundermold coupling 1800 to the interior surface of the expiration inletfitting 1500 into which the undermold coupling 1800 is inserted. As aresult, gas-tight seals may be formed among these components.

In other embodiments, an end of the expiratory hose 1600 may be insertedinto the hose interface 1580 of the expiratory inlet fitting 1500without an undermold coupling 1800 threaded thereon. After suchinsertion, the flexible material of the undermold coupling 1800, inmolten form, may be injected into one or more of the slots 1585 of oneor more gratings 1586 of the hose interface 1580 to fill the spacebetween the thread-like external surface of that end of the expiratoryhose 1600 and the interior surface of the hose interface 1580 to formthe undermold coupling 1800 in place therebetween, as well as to filleach of the slots 1585. Alternatively, the flexible material of theundermold coupling 1800, in molten form, may be injected therein betweenthe expiratory hose 1600 and the edge of the interior surface of thehose interface 1580, where the expiratory hose 1600 enters into the hoseinterface 1580, to form the undermold coupling 1800 in place, as well asto fill each of the slots 1585 from within the interior of the hoseinterface 1580. Regardless of the exact manner in which the molten formof the material of the undermold coupling 1800 is injected to form theundermold coupling 1800 in place, in so forming the undermold coupling1800 in place, the molten form of the undermold coupling 1800 may bondto the materials of thread-like external surface at the end of theexpiratory hose 1600 and the interior surface of the hose interface 1580to form a gas-tight seal therebetween.

It should be noted that although FIGS. 7A through 7E depict thesefeatures in a manner that is focused on the connection of an end of theexpiratory hose 1600 to the expiratory inlet fitting 1500, the very samecoupling arrangement just described may be employed to couple the otherend of the expiratory hose 1600 to the expiratory outlet fitting 1700,and/or one or both ends of the inspiratory hose 1200 to one or both ofthe inspiratory inlet fitting 1100 and the inspiratory outlet fitting1300. Stated differently, and as depicted most clearly in each of FIGS.1D, 1E and 3A, multiple ones of the undermold coupling 1800 may beemployed to couple each of the fittings 1100 and 1300 to opposite endsof the inspiratory hose 1200, and to couple each of the fittings 1500and 1700 to opposite ends of the expiratory hose 1600.

FIGS. 8A through 8G, taken together, depict various aspects ofincorporating the plug 1180 or 1780 incorporating the electricalconnector 1190 or 1790 into one of the three connections provided by theinspiratory inlet fitting 1100 or the expiratory outlet fitting 1700,respectively. Also depicted are various aspects of the direct electricalcoupling of the heating wires 1290 or 1690 to the electrical connector1190 or 1790, respectively.

Each of FIGS. 8A and 8B depicts a subset of the components of theinspiratory hose assembly 1002 toward the end thereof that is to beconnected to the medical device 990. More precisely, FIGS. 8A and 8Beach depict the path followed by the support helix 1280 within theinspiratory hose 1200 and where an end of the inspiratory hose 1200 iscoupled to the inspiratory inlet fitting 1100. The wall 1270 of theinspiratory hose 1200 has been omitted in both of these views forpurposes of visual clarity. Additionally, in FIG. 8B, both the plug 1180and the insulating shroud portion of the electrical connector 1190 havebeen omitted, also for purposes of visual clarity. As depicted, where anend of a portion of the inspiratory hose 1200 is inserted into a portionof the inspiratory inlet fitting 1100, a relatively short portion of thesupport helix 1280 is unwound from its helical path within theinspiratory hose 1200 and is employed as an electrical cable to bringthe heating wires 1290 therein to the electrical connector 1190 withinthe plug 1180.

More specifically, a relatively short portion of the support helix 1280is pulled out of the end of the inspiratory hose 1200 (i.e., unwoundtherefrom) where that end is inserted into the inspiratory inlet fitting1100, and straightened to at least some degree for use as an electricalcable to bring the heating wires 1290 therein directly to the electricalconnector 1190. This unwinding of the relatively short portion of thesupport helix 1280 may be performed prior to the threading of thedepicted undermold coupling 1800 onto the end of the inspiratory hose1200 that is to be inserted into the inspiratory inlet fitting 1100. Asa result, the relatively short unwound portion of the support helix 1280extends beyond the end of the inspiratory hose 1200 onto which theundermold coupling 1800 is threaded, thereby emerging from within theundermold coupling 1800 and extending further into the interior of theinspiratory inlet fitting 1100 than the end of the inspiratory hose 1200onto which the undermold coupling 1800 is threaded.

The end of the relatively short portion of the support helix 1280 thatextends toward the electrical connector 1190 may be partly stripped awayto remove at least enough of the flexible plastics material of thesupport helix 1280 to expose enough of the heating wires 1290 therein toenable forming an electrical connection with the contacts 1199 of theelectrical connector 1190. More precisely, the plastics material of thesupport helix 1280 may be stripped away in a manner that may be akin toprocedures often used in preparing conventional multi-conductor cablesfor the connection of the individual wires therein to contacts of anelectrical connector or other electrical device. Thus, typical wirestripping techniques may be employed to gain access to each of theheating wires 1290, and then the conductor 1299 (see FIG. 4B) withineach of the heating wires 1290 may be soldered to a soldering tab of oneof the electrical contacts 1199 of the electrical connector 1190.Additionally, if the relatively short unwound portion of the supporthelix 1280 is additionally covered in a sheath (e.g., heatshrink tubingthat may be sleeved over the relatively short unwound portion of thesupport helix 1280), then part of that sheath may also be similarlystripped away using typical wire stripping techniques. As previouslydiscussed, the conductor 1299 of each of the heating wires 1290 may besheathed within an individual insulator 1291 that is selected to bethermally resistant to the temperatures expected to be encounteredduring heating of the inspiratory hose 1200, but not to the temperaturesexpected to be encountered during soldering, thereby eliminating theneed to strip each of the conductors 1299 of their individual insulators1291 prior to soldering each of the conductors 1299 to a soldering tabof one of the electrical contacts 1199.

In separating the relatively short portion of the support helix 1280from the inspiratory hose 1200, portions of the wall 1270 (again, notshown for purposes of visual clarity) that extend between adjacent coilsof the support helix 1280 that are included in the relatively shortportion thereof may be trimmed away. After being so separated, therelatively short unwound portion of the support helix 1280 may be heatedto soften the flexible plastics material thereof (i.e., to relax themolecules of the flexible plastics material thereof) to aid instraightening it out from its original helical path within theinspiratory hose 1200 (i.e., causing the molecules of the flexibleplastics material of the relatively short portion of the support helix1280 to adopt a straightened path as a new resting state).

The actual length of the relatively short portion of the support helix1280 that emerges from the undermold coupling 1800 and extends furtherinto the interior of the inspiration inlet fitting 1100 may be based, atleast in part, on the dimensions of the inspiration inlet fitting 1100.More specifically, the length may be selected based on the length neededto extend from the undermold coupling 1800 and to the electricalconnector 1190, and may include a predetermined additional length neededto allow manufacturing personnel sufficient physical access to solderthe conductors 1299 of the heating wires 1290 to the soldering tabs ofthe electrical contacts 1199, as earlier described.

In a manner somewhat similar to FIGS. 8A and 8B, FIG. 8C depicts asubset of the components of the expiratory hose assembly 1006 toward theend thereof that is to be connected to the medical device 990. Moreprecisely, FIG. 8C depicts the path followed by the support helix 1680within the expiratory hose 1600 and where an end of the expiratory hose1600 is coupled to the expiratory outlet fitting 1600. The wall 1670 ofthe expiratory hose 1600, the plug 1780 and the insulating shroudportion of the electrical connector 1790 have all been omitted forpurposes of visual clarity. As depicted, where an end of a portion ofthe expiratory hose 1600 is inserted into a portion of the expiratoryoutlet fitting 1700, a relatively short portion of the support helix1680 is unwound from its helical path within the expiratory hose 1600and is employed as an electrical cable to bring the heating wires 1690therein to the electrical connector 1790 within the plug 1780 (again,not shown).

More specifically, a relatively short portion of the support helix 1680is pulled out of the end of the expiratory hose 1600 (i.e., unwoundtherefrom) where that end is inserted into the expiratory outlet fitting1700, and straightened to at least some degree for use as an electricalcable to bring the heating wires 1690 therein directly to the electricalconnector 1790. In a manner similar to what was discussed aboveconcerning the support helix 1280, this unwinding of the relativelyshort portion of the support helix 1680 may be performed prior to thethreading of another of the undermold couplings 1800 onto the end of theexpiratory hose 1600 that is to be inserted into the expiratory outletfitting 1700. As a result, the relatively short portion of the supporthelix 1680 extends beyond the end of the expiratory hose 1600 onto whichthe undermold coupling 1800 is threaded, thereby emerging from withinthe undermold coupling 1800 and extending further into the interior ofthe expiratory outlet fitting 1700 than the end of the expiratory hose1600 onto which the undermold coupling 1800 is threaded.

As with the earlier discussed relatively short portion of the supporthelix 1280 employed as an electrical cable, the end of the relativelyshort unwound portion of the support helix 1680 that extends toward theelectrical connector 1790 may also be partly stripped away to remove atleast enough of the flexible plastics material of the support helix 1680to expose enough of the heating wires 1690 therein to enable forming anelectrical connection with the contacts 1199 of the electrical connector1190. Again, this may also be done using typical wire strippingtechniques, and again, if the stripped-away part of the unwound portionof the support helix 1680 is additionally covered in a sheath (e.g.,heatshrink tubing), part of that sheath may also be similarly strippedaway using typical wire stripping techniques. Also again, in separatingthe relatively short portion of the support helix 1680 from theexpiratory hose 1600, portions of the wall 1670 (again, not shown forpurposes of visual clarity) that extend between adjacent coils of thesupport helix 1680 that are included in the relatively short portionthereof may be trimmed away. And again, after being so separated, therelatively short portion of the support helix 1680 may be heated tosoften the flexible plastics material thereof to aid in straightening itout from its original helical path within the expiratory hose 1600.

As with the earlier discussed relatively short portion of the supporthelix 1280 employed as an electrical cable, the actual length of therelatively short portion of the support helix 1680 that emerges from theundermold coupling 1800 and extends further into the interior of theexpiration outlet fitting 1700 may be based, at least in part, on thedimensions of the expiration outlet fitting 1700. More specifically, thelength may be selected based on the length needed to extend from theundermold coupling 1800 and to the electrical connector 1790, and mayinclude a predetermined additional length needed to allow manufacturingpersonnel sufficient physical access to solder the conductors 1699 ofthe heating wires 1690 to the soldering tabs of the electrical contacts1799.

Such use of a portion of the support helixes 1280 and/or 1680, as ifeach were a conventional two-conductor electric cable, advantageouslyavoids the creation of electrical terminations where a transition ismade between the heating wires 1290 and/or 1690 of the support helixes1280 and/or 1680 to non-heating wires that travel a relatively shortdistance within the fittings 1100 and/or 1300 to electrically couple theheating wires 1290 and/or 1690 to the electrical connectors 1190 and/or1790, respectively. Experience has shown that such electricalterminations to transition between heating and non-heating wires can bea source of potentially dangerous electrical failures. Poorlyimplemented electrical terminations of this type can actually have ahigher resistance than the heating wires 1290, themselves, such that theterminations can become hotter than either the heating wires 1290 or1690. This may lead to such hazards as burning through the plasticsmaterial of the inspiratory inlet fitting 1100 and/or otherwisegenerating toxic smokes/gases within the inspiratory inlet fitting 1100that may be inhaled by the patient. It has been discovered throughtesting that such a transition between heating and non-heating wires isunnecessary, and that portions of the support helixes 1280 and 1680 canbe used as multi-conductor cables, as has been described.

FIGS. 8D and 8E, taken together, depict various features of the plug1180 and the electrical connector 1190 carried therein. As depicted, insome embodiments, the plug 1180 may be formed from multiple separatelyfabricated plastic components, including the depicted face portion 1181and the depicted pair of “clamshell” portions 1182. In this depictedembodiment, much of the electrical connector 1190 (with its electricalcontacts 1199 installed therein, and already soldered to the conductors1299 of the heating wires 1290 of the support helix 1280) may beenclosed between the two clamshell portions 1182, which may be fastenedto each other in any of a variety of ways. A portion of the supporthelix 1280 adjacent the electrical connector 1190 may also be enclosedbetween the two clamshell portions 1182. The face portion 1181 may thenbe molded over the assembled pair of the clamshell portions 1182 withthe electrical connector 1190 enclosed between the clamshell portions1182. In so molding the face portion 1181, portions of the plasticsmaterial of the face portion 1181, while in a molten state, may fillvarious convolutions formed within each of the two clamshell portions1182 to further bond them together. In so doing, the face portion 1181may also seal spaces between the two clamshell portions 1182 withinwhich the electrical connector 1190 is held, as well as the portion ofthe support helix that is also enclosed therebetween. In so doing, theelectrical connections between the conductors 1299 of the heating wires1290 and the electrical contacts 1199 of the electrical connector 1190may be entirely enclosed to seal and protect those connections againstmoisture present in the respiratory gases conveyed through theinspiratory inlet fitting 1100 to thereby prevent corrosion, etc.

Alternatively, in other embodiments, following the connection of theconductors 1299 of the heating wires 1290 of the support helix 1280 tothe electrical contacts 1199 of the electrical connector 1190, theentire plug 1180 may simply be molded around the electrical connector1190. A portion of the support helix 1280 adjacent the electricalconnector 1190 may also be enclosed within such a molded form of theplug 1180.

Regardless of the exact manner in which the plug 1180 is formed and/orin which the electrical connector 1190 is caused to be enclosed withinthe plug 1180, the portion of the plug 1180 that extends furthest intothe inspiration inlet fitting 1100 may be shaped to cooperate withinterior surface portions of the inspiration inlet fitting 1100 topresent a relatively unobstructed path for the flow of respiratory gasesthrough the inspiration inlet fitting 1100 with relatively smoothsurfaces encountered by the respiratory gases throughout that path. Moreprecisely, and as best seen in FIG. 8E, as well as in FIGS. 1D, 1E and8A, the portion of the plug 1180 that extends furthest into theinspiration inlet fitting 1100 may be provided with a concave surface1183 that serves to define part of such a relatively unobstructed pathwith smooth surfaces for the flow of respiratory gases.

FIGS. 8F and 8G, taken together, depict similar features of the plug1780 and the electrical connector 1790 carried therein. As depicted, insome embodiments, the plug 1780 may be formed from multiple separatelyfabricated plastic components, including the depicted face portion 1781and the depicted pair of clamshell portions 1782. In this depictedembodiment, much of the electrical connector 1790 (with its electricalcontacts 1799 installed therein, and already soldered to the conductors1699 of the heating wires 1690 of the support helix 1680) may beenclosed between the two clamshell portions 1782, which may be fastenedto each other in any of a variety of ways. A portion of the supporthelix 1680 adjacent the electrical connector 1790 may also be enclosedbetween the two clamshell portions 1782. The face portion 1781 may thenbe molded over the assembled pair of the claims clamshell portions 1782to form the plug 1780 with the electrical connector 1790 sealed in placetherein in a manner similar to what has been previously described inreference to the plug 1180.

Alternatively, in other embodiments, following the connection of theconductors 1699 of the heating wires 1690 of the support helix 1680 tothe electrical contacts 1799 of the electrical connector 1790, theentire plug 1780 may simply be molded around the electrical connector1790. A portion of the support helix 1680 adjacent the electricalconnector 1790 may also be enclosed within such a molded form of theplug 1780.

As with the plug 1180, regardless of the exact manner in which the plug1780 is formed and/or in which the electrical connector 1790 is causedto be enclosed within the plug 1780, the portion of the plug 1780 thatextends furthest into the expiration outlet fitting 1700 may be shapedto cooperate with interior surface portions of the expiration outletfitting 1700 to present a relatively unobstructed path for the flow ofrespiratory gases through the expiration outlet fitting 1700 withrelatively smooth surfaces encountered by the respiratory gasesthroughout that path. More precisely, and as best seen in FIG. 8G, aswell as in FIGS. 1D and 1E, the portion of the plug 1780 that extendsfurthest into the inspiration inlet fitting 1700 may be provided with aconcave surface 1783 that serves to define part of such a relativelyunobstructed path with smooth surfaces for the flow of respiratorygases.

It should be noted that, as depicted in FIGS. 8D and 8F, as well asthroughout others of the figures in this present application, theelectrical connectors 1190 and 1790 may be provided with differingphysical shapes as a keying mechanism to prevent incorrect electricalconnections between the medical device 990 and each of the heating wires1290 and 1690 within the hoses 1200 and 1600, respectively. Morespecifically, the electrical connector 1190 is depicted as being aso-called “monkey face” connector having a shape that includes threelobes in which two of the lobes are each occupied by one of theelectrical contacts 1199. In contrast, the electrical connector 1790 isdepicted as having a more conventional elongate oval-like shape in whichthe electrical contacts 1799 are positioned toward opposite ends of theof the oval-like shape. As will be familiar to those skilled in the artof such medical devices as ventilators and CPAP devices, this depictedcombination of forms of the electrical connectors 1190 and 1790 havebecome widely adopted for use in providing electric power for heatingthe hoses used with such medical devices.

As previously discussed, at the opposite end of the support helix 1280from the end that is connected to the electrical connector 1190, theconductors 1299 of the pair of heating wires 1290 may be electricallyconnected to each other through crimping, soldering, etc., to form anelectrical loop with the pair of heating wires 1290 through the supporthelix 1280 for heating the interior of the inspiration hose 1200.Similarly, at the opposite end of the support helix 1680 from the endthat is connected to the electrical connector 1790, the conductors 1699of the pair of heating wires 1690 may be similarly electricallyconnected to each other to form a separate electrical loop with the pairof heating wires 1690 through the support helix 1680 for separatelyheating the interior of the expiration hose 1600. As also previouslydiscussed, the medical device 990 may operate each of these electricalloops separately and in different ways that may be selected to causediffering degrees of heating within each of the hoses 1200 and 1600.Indeed, as also previously discussed, the heating wires 1290 and 1690may be selected to have different resistances in recognition of suchdifferences in the manner in which each may be used.

FIGS. 9A through 9C, taken together, depict various aspects of formingan electrical “pigtail” 1285 or 1685 from a portion of the support helix1280 or 1680 for use in connecting the heating wires 1290 or 1690 to themedical device 990 to be provided with electrical power therefrom. In amanner similar to the embodiments depicted and discussed in reference toFIGS. 8A through 8G, FIGS. 9A through 9C present embodiments of the useof a portion of the support helix 1280 or 1680 as an electrical cable toadvantageously avoid the creation of a electrical terminations where atransition is made between the heating wires 1290 or 1690, respectively,to non-heating wires. However, unlike the embodiments of FIGS. 8Athrough 8G in which the connector 1190 or 1790 is carried within theplug 1180 or 1780 installed within the fitting 1100 or 1700,respectively, in the embodiments of FIGS. 9A through 9C, the connector1190 or 1790 is located in the environment external to the fitting 1100or 1700 at the end of an electrical pigtail 1285 or 1685, respectively.

Each of FIGS. 9A through 9C depicts a subset of the components of eitherthe inspiratory hose assembly 1002 or the expiratory hose assembly 1006toward the end thereof that is to be connected to the medical device990. More precisely, in each of FIGS. 9A through 9C, depictions of oneof the undermold couplings 1800, and of the wall 1270 or 1670 of thehose 1200 or 1600 has been omitted to enable the helical path of thesupport helix 1280 or 1680, respectively, therein to be viewed moreclearly. Additionally, in FIG. 9B, the depiction of either theinspiratory inlet fitting 1100 or the expiratory outlet fitting 1700that is provided in FIG. 9A is also omitted to provide an uninterruptedview of the transition of the support helix 1280 or 1680 from itshelical path for purposes of heating the interior of the hose 1200 or1600 to a relatively straightened path for purposes of being used as anelectrical cable to convey the heating wires 1290 or 1690 thereof to theconnector 1190 or 1790.

Turning more specifically to FIGS. 9A and 9B, as depicted, where an endof a portion of the inspiratory hose 1200 is inserted into a portion ofthe inspiratory inlet fitting 1100, or where an end of a portion of theexpiratory hose 1600 is inserted into a portion of the expiratory outletfitting 1700, a portion of the support helix 1280 or 1680 is unwoundfrom its helical path within the inspiratory hose 1200 or 1600 and isemployed as an electrical cable to bring the heating wires 1290 or 1690therein to the electrical connector 1190 or 1790 at an end of theelectrical pigtail 1285 or 1685, respectively.

More specifically, a portion of the support helix 1280 or 1680 is pulledout of the end of the hose 1200 or 1600 (i.e., unwound therefrom) wherethat end is inserted into the fitting 1100 or 1700, respectively. Thelength of the unwound portion of the support helix 1280 or 1680 may bedetermined, at least in part, by the intended length of the electricalpigtail 1285 or 1685. The unwound portion of the support helix 1280 or1680 may then be straightened to at least some degree for use as anelectrical cable. This unwinding of the portion of the support helix1280 may be performed prior to the threading of the depicted undermoldcoupling 1800 (again, not shown for purposes of visual clarity) onto theend of the hose 1200 or 1600 that is to be inserted into the fitting1100 or 1700, respectively. As a result, the unwound portion of thesupport helix 1280 extends beyond the end of the 1200 or 1600 onto whichthe undermold coupling 1800 is threaded, thereby emerging from withinthe undermold coupling 1800 and extending further into the interior ofthe 1100 or 1700 than the end of the hose 1200 or 1600, respectively,onto which the undermold coupling 1800 is threaded. The unwound portionof the support helix 1280 or 1680 may then be fed through a channeland/or opening defined by a portion of the fitting 1100 or 1700 to becaused to extend into the environment external to the fitting 1100 or1700 to serve as the core of the electrical pigtail 1285 or 1685.

Turning briefly to FIG. 9C, as depicted, the unwound portion of thesupport helix 1285 or 1685 may be covered in a sheath 1281 or 1681, atleast where the unwound portion of the support helix 1285 or 1685emerges from the fitting 1100 or 1700, respectively, and into theenvironment external thereto. Alternatively or additionally, the sheath1281 or 1681 may cover at least part of the unwound portion of thesupport helix 1285 or 1685 within the fitting 1100 or 1700. In someembodiments, the sheath 1281 or 1681 may be a length of heatshrinktubing that is sleeved over the unwound portion of the support helix1285 or 1685 (at least the length thereof that is within the environmentexternal to the fitting 1200 or 1600), and then heated to cause thecross-section of the heatshrink tubing to shrink radially inward towardthe exterior of the unwound portion of the support helix 1285 or 1685.Such an application of heat may also be used to aid in the straighteningof the unwound portion of the support helix 1280 or 1680 and/or tosomewhat change the shape thereof to conform to the interior surface ofthe heatshrink tubing as the heatshrink tubing is caused to tightlysurround the unwound portion of the support helix 1285 or 1685,respectively (at least the length thereof that is within the environmentexternal to the fitting 1200 or 1600).

Turning again more specifically to FIGS. 9A and 9B, the end of theunwound portion of the support helix 1280 or 1680 that extends towardthe electrical connector 1190 or 1790 may be partly stripped away toremove at least enough of the flexible plastics material of the supporthelix 1280 or 1680 (and maybe also to strip away a portion of the sheath1281 or 1681) to expose enough of the heating wires 1290 or 1690 thereinto enable forming an electrical connection with the contacts 1199 or1799 of the electrical connector 1190 or 1790, respectively. Again, thismay also be done using typical wire stripping techniques. Also again, inseparating the relatively short portion of the support helix 1280 or1680 from the hose 1200 or 1600, portions of the wall 1270 or 1670(again, not shown for purposes of visual clarity) that extend betweenadjacent coils of the support helix 1280 or 1680 that are included inthe unwound portion thereof may be trimmed away.

It has been discovered through testing that a transition from theheating wires 1290 or 1690 of the support helix 1280 or 1680, and tonon-heating wires to form the electrical pigtail 1285 or 1685 isunnecessary, especially where the electrical pigtail 1285 or 1685additionally includes the sheath 1281 or 1681 to provide additionalinsulation against the heat that may be generated within the electricalpigtail 1285 or 1685 by the heating wires 1290 or 1690, respectively,therein.

Although the invention has been described in a preferred form with acertain degree of particularity, it is understood that the presentdisclosure of the preferred form has been made only by way of example,and that numerous changes in the details of construction and the mannerof manufacture may be resorted to without departing from the spirit andscope of the invention. It is intended to protect whatever features ofpatentable novelty exist in the invention disclosed.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method of forming a hose comprising:extruding a continuous web of plastics material from a first extruder ofa hose making apparatus; helically winding the extruded web about amandrel or at least one rotating rod of the hose making apparatus toform a wall of the hose about a central axis of the hose; feeding afirst electrical wire into a second extruder; extruding a firstcontinuous bead of plastics material around the first electrical wirefrom the second extruder, wherein: the first electrical wire ispositioned at a first location within a cross-section of the firstextruded bead; and the cross-section of the first extruded bead definesan exterior of the first extruded bead that comprises a first bondingsurface covering a portion of the exterior; cooling the first extrudedbead sufficiently to cool the plastics material adjacent the firstlocation within the cross-section of the first extruded bead to preventmigration of the first electrical wire away from the first location;re-heating the first bonding surface of the first extruded beadsufficiently to cause the plastics material of the first bonding surfaceto become molten; and helically winding the first extruded bead onto andabout an external surface of the wall of the hose formed from thehelical winding of the extruded web such that the first bonding surfaceis put into contact with, and then becomes bonded to, the wall of thehose to become a first support helix that incorporates the firstelectrical wire.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein: the cross-section ofthe extruded web of plastics material includes a first pair of guideformations that extend radially outward from the wall of the hose afterthe extruded web is helically wound about the mandrel or the at leastone rotating rod; and the method further comprises using the first pairof guide formations to guide the first bonding surface into contactwith, and into bonding to, a portion of the external surface of the wallof the hose that is designated to be a second bonding surface.
 3. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising helically winding the firstextruded bead about the wall of the hose to provide a predeterminedamount of space between adjacent coils of the first support helix toallow a fold, a curve or a convolution to be formed in stretches of thewall between the adjacent coils of the first support helix to enable thehose to bend or to be axially compressed along the central axis.
 4. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: feeding a second electrical wireinto a third extruder; extruding a second continuous bead of plasticsmaterial around the second electrical wire from the third extruder,wherein: the second electrical wire is positioned at a second locationwithin a cross-section of the second extruded bead; and thecross-section of the second extruded bead defines an exterior of thesecond extruded bead that comprises a third bonding surface covering aportion of the exterior; cooling the second extruded bead sufficientlyto cool the plastics material adjacent the second location within thecross-section of the second extruded bead to prevent migration of thesecond electrical wire away from the second location; re-heating thethird bonding surface of the second extruded bead sufficiently to causethe plastics material of the third bonding surface to become molten; andhelically winding the second extruded bead onto and about the externalsurface of the wall of the hose such that the third bonding surface isput into contact with, and then becomes bonded to, the wall of the hoseto become a second support helix that incorporates the second electricalwire.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein: the cross-section of theextruded web of plastics material includes a second pair of guideformations that extend radially outward from the wall of the hose afterthe extruded web is helically wound about the mandrel or the at leastone rotating rod; and the method further comprises using the second pairof guide formations to guide the third bonding surface into contactwith, and into bonding to, a portion of the external surface of the wallof the hose that is designated to be a fourth bonding surface.
 6. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising; cutting the hose into multiplesegments of the hose wherein each segment of the hose is cut to a lengthselected to be longer than needed to provide an extra length of the hosewithin each segment; unwinding a portion of the first support helix fromthe extra length of the hose within each segment; heating the unwoundportion of each segment to straighten the unwound portion; strippingpart of an end of the unwound portion of each segment to expose thefirst electrical wire; and directly connecting the first electrical wireof each segment to an electrical contact of an electrical connector toenable the first electrical wire to be operated to heat an interior ofthe segment of the hose.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein cooling thefirst extruded bead comprises: routing the first extruded bead through acooling liquid; and maintaining the cooling liquid at a temperature thatis selected to be sufficiently lower than a temperature of the firstextruded bead at the second extruder as to cool the plastics materialadjacent the first location within the cross-section of the firstextruded bead to prevent migration of the first electrical wire awayfrom the first location without causing cracking of the plasticsmaterial of the first extruded bead.
 8. The method of claim 7, whereinmaintaining the cooling liquid at the selected temperature comprisesmaintaining the cooling liquid within an elongate trough that is open toambient air that surrounds the trough to expose the cooling liquid to anambient temperature of the surrounding ambient air.
 9. The method ofclaim 1, wherein re-heating the first extruded bead comprises: routingthe first extruded bead past a heating device that outputs a flow ofheated air along a path extending from the heating device, with thefirst extruded bead oriented to place the first bonding surface in thepath of the flow of heated air to heat the first bonding surface to agreater degree than any other portion of the exterior of the firstextruded bead; and maintaining at least one of a volume and atemperature of the flow of hot air output by the heating device at alevel that is selected to cause the first bonding surface to becomemolten without causing the plastics material adjacent the first locationwithin the first extruded bead to become molten.
 10. The method of claim9, wherein the maintenance of the at least one of the volume and thetemperature is based on at least one of a shape of the cross-section ofthe first extruded bead, a dimension of the cross-section of the firstextruded bead, a shape of the first bonding surface, a dimension of thefirst bonding surface and a speed at which the first extruded bead isrouted past the heating device.
 11. The method of claim 10, wherein thespeed at which the first extruded bead is routed past the heating deviceis based on a rate at which the hose is formed on the hose makingapparatus.
 12. The method of claim 1, wherein re-heating the firstextruded bead comprises: routing the first extruded bead past a heatingdevice that outputs radiant heat along a path extending from the heatingdevice, with the first extruded bead oriented to place the first bondingsurface in the path of the radiant heat to heat the first bondingsurface to a greater degree than any other portion of the exterior ofthe first extruded bead; and maintaining a level of energy of the outputof radiant heat output by the heating device at a level that is selectedto cause the first bonding surface to become molten without causing theplastics material adjacent the first location within the first extrudedbead to become molten.
 13. The method of claim 12, wherein themaintenance of the level of energy of the output of radiant heat isbased on at least one of a shape of the cross-section of the firstextruded bead, a dimension of the cross-section of the first extrudedbead, a shape of the first bonding surface, a dimension of the firstbonding surface and a speed at which the first extruded bead is routedpast the heating device.
 14. The method of claim 13, wherein the speedat which the first extruded bead is routed past the heating device isbased on a rate at which the hose is formed on the hose makingapparatus.
 15. The method of claim 1, further comprising, following thecooling of the first extruded bead and prior to the re-heating of thefirst bonding surface: winding a length of the first extruded bead ontoa spool to enable the length of the first extruded bead to be stored;storing the length of the first extruded bead among a plurality ofstored lengths of extruded beads that are differentiated from each otherby at least one characteristic; selecting the length of the firstextruded bead to be used to form the hose from among the plurality ofstored lengths of extruded beads based on the at least onecharacteristic; and unwinding the length of the first extruded bead fromthe spool as the length of the first extruded bead is routed through aheating tube and then wound onto and about the external surface of thewall of the hose to form hose.
 16. The method of claim 15, wherein theat least one characteristic comprises a characteristic selected from agroup consisting of: a shape of a cross-section of a length of extrudedbead of the plurality of stored lengths of extruded beads; a dimensionof a cross-section of a length of extruded bead of the plurality ofstored lengths of extruded beads; a shape of a bonding surface of alength of extruded bead of the plurality of stored lengths of extrudedbeads; a dimension of a bonding surface of a length of extruded bead ofthe plurality of stored lengths of extruded beads; a quantity ofelectrical wires incorporated into a length of extruded bead of theplurality of stored lengths of extruded beads; a size of an electricalwire incorporated into a length of extruded bead of the plurality ofstored lengths of extruded beads; and a characteristic of a plasticsmaterial from which a length of extruded bead of the plurality of storedlengths of extruded beads is formed.
 17. The method of claim 1, whereinthe first electric wire comprises a first conductor sheathed by a firstinsulator.
 18. The method of claim 4, wherein: the first electric wirecomprises a first conductor sheathed by a first insulator; and thesecond electric wire comprises a second conductor sheathed by a secondinsulator.